Vermont Residents Overwhelmingly Favor Funding For Tobacco Prevention

Williston (December 31, 2007) ? A new statewide survey of 400 Vermonters released today shows that Vermont residents overwhelmingly support using tobacco settlement revenue for programs to prevent kids from starting to smoke and help smokers quit.

In releasing the survey, the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Vermont (CTFV) reiterated the need to continue funding for the state?s program to reduce tobacco use in Vermont.

More than eight out of ten (86 percent) Vermont residents believe funding for the state?s tobacco prevention program should be more than or equal to the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Support for tobacco prevention comes from a broad base of Vermonters.

?We can spend a little now or a lot later?, said John Hughes, MD, Medical Director for the Coalition. ?Tobacco prevention is one of the smartest and most fiscally responsible investments we can make, even in difficult budget times. If we continue to invest in tobacco prevention now, we will not only reduce smoking and save lives, but also save far more money than we spend by reducing smoking-caused health care costs.?
Support for tobacco prevention funding is not surprising, given that 88% of Vermonters said that the state should spend at least one-half of the funds it receives from the tobacco settlement on programs to reduce tobacco use. Vermont collects about $40 million a year in revenue from the state tobacco settlement. It takes about one-quarter of this tobacco revenue to fund tobacco prevention at the level recommended by the CDC ($10.4 million dollars per year).

?It is only right to use funds derived from the harms of tobacco to adequately support programs that we know work to protect our kids from tobacco. The state collects $40 million per year in tobacco settlement money - surely a substantial part of this should be used to reduce tobacco-caused disease and death,? said Hughes.

Even after poll respondents were reminded of the state?s deficit in the Medicaid program, a majority of them (53 percent) agree with the need to use any additional tobacco settlement payments to fund tobacco prevention at the CDC recommended level.

The survey also shows that Vermont residents will express their support for tobacco prevention at the polls. By a margin of 77 percent to 7 percent, Vermont residents would look favorably on a candidate for state office who wants to preserve tobacco prevention funding over one who opposes funding the program at the level recommended by the CDC.

?This poll shows us that the vast majority of Vermonters support keeping the promise of the tobacco settlement by funding tobacco programs that prevent kids from starting to smoke and help smokers quit,? said Hughes. ?If Vermont fails to keep this promise, the consequences will be dire ? more kids will start to smoke, more lives will be lost and taxpayers will foot the bill for higher tobacco-caused health care costs.?

Despite progress made in reducing smoking, tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death in Vermont, claiming 900 lives each year and costing the state more than $230 million annually in health care bills, including $72 million in Medicaid payments alone. Smoking-caused government expenditures amount to a hidden tax of $632 per Vermont household. Currently, 17.9 percent of Vermont high school students smoke, and 800 additional kids become regular smokers every year.

For more information contact the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Vermont at 802-872-6303, or visit their web site at www.tobaccofreevermont.org.

The survey of 400 Vermont residents was conducted October 18-21 by MACRO. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percentage points.

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