Your letter should urge the Legislature to fund a statewide, comprehensive program of tobacco use prevention and cessation with tobacco settlement funds. Finally, we need people at the House State Affairs hearing on Friday, January 28th at 10AM in Room 412. The recommendation is based upon the minimum funding recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based upon the program successes in other states. If passed, the recommendations would provide funding for community, school and statewide programs, cessation services, law enforcement and evaluation to make sure our investments are getting results. Your action is needed to help secure this very important funding.
Legislators read the local newspaper, particularly the editorial page.
We need to get as many letters as possible to legislators and to our local newspapers on this issue. While there are many good ideas and priorities for using the tobacco settlement funds, the first priority with the tobacco settlement ought to be tobacco prevention, or we will continue to be forced to bear the growing tobacco caused health and other costs. Spending one-third of the settlement funds on a comprehensive tobacco prevention program will still leave a majority of the settlement funds to address other state needs that the Governor and Legislature want to address. Prevention programs are working in other states and getting results. They can work here if funding is adequate and sustained.