By JOHN O’CONNOR - joconnor@thestate.comState budget cuts and the failure to raise the state cigarette tax means S.C. smokers trying to quit the habit will get no help from the state next year.
Among the items cut from the state’s $7 billion-a-year budget by lawmakers was $2 million to pay for anti-smoking and cessation efforts.
A proposed 50-cent-a-pack cigarette tax would have budgeted $5 million of the $160 million raised by the higher tax to cessation and anti-smoking programs. But lawmakers failed to override Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a bill to increase South Carolina’s lowest-in-the-nation tax.
That means a state quit line — where smokers can call to get advice — will have to provide only bare-bones assistance, paid for with a federal grant. Youth anti-smoking programs will have to raise their own money, and South Carolina’s already low ranking for anti-smoking efforts will likely worsen.
Among the items cut from the state’s $7 billion-a-year budget by lawmakers was $2 million to pay for anti-smoking and cessation efforts.
A proposed 50-cent-a-pack cigarette tax would have budgeted $5 million of the $160 million raised by the higher tax to cessation and anti-smoking programs. But lawmakers failed to override Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a bill to increase South Carolina’s lowest-in-the-nation tax.
That means a state quit line — where smokers can call to get advice — will have to provide only bare-bones assistance, paid for with a federal grant. Youth anti-smoking programs will have to raise their own money, and South Carolina’s already low ranking for anti-smoking efforts will likely worsen.
South Carolina has received $364 million from its $910 million settlement with tobacco companies to pay the cost of providing health care to smokers.
But the state has spent just $5.4 million of that settlement on anti-smoking efforts — 1.5 percent of spending — according to the Office of State Budget.
The state should spend 11 times what it does on smoking cessation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends spending based on the number of smokers in a state.
Starting July 1, however, the state will spend no money on smoking cessation. That has anti-smoking advocates worried they could lose ground in the gains that they have made in reducing smoking since 1999.
But the state has spent just $5.4 million of that settlement on anti-smoking efforts — 1.5 percent of spending — according to the Office of State Budget.
The state should spend 11 times what it does on smoking cessation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends spending based on the number of smokers in a state.
Starting July 1, however, the state will spend no money on smoking cessation. That has anti-smoking advocates worried they could lose ground in the gains that they have made in reducing smoking since 1999.
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