Report: Idaho ranks 34th in the Nation in Funding Programs to Prevent kids from Smoking

According to the campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Idaho currently spends $880,000 a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 5 percent of the $16.9 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report takes issue with Idaho’s usage of its share of the tobacco settlement fund.  Idaho this year will collect $74 million in revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 1.2 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs. According to Tobacco Free Kids, That means Idaho is spending barely a penny of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use. Survey results show In Idaho, 14.5 percent of high school students smoke, and 1,300 more kids become regular smokers each year. The campaign says Tobacco annually claims 1,500 lives and costs the state $319 million in health care bills.