Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today applauded the legislature's allocation of about $6.8 million from the state's tobacco settlement money for programs to fight smoking -- a significant step toward the stronger state anti-smoking effort that Blumenthal has long advocated.
The General Assembly's Public Health and Appropriations Committees yesterday approved the allocation from the state's Tobacco and Health Trust Fund, which is funded by the 1998 settlement between the states and major tobacco companies. Blumenthal helped lead the litigation and negotiations resulting in the settlement.
The additional money pushed Connecticut from dead last to 29th among the states in the amount of tobacco settlement funds allocated to combat smoking. The appropriation includes $2 million each for QuitLine, a telephone service that includes counseling and medication to help people stop smoking, and for advertising to counter tobacco industry marketing.
"Connecticut is turning a corner in the fight against tobacco -- having squandered years -- but much more must be done," Blumenthal said. "This decision will literally save lives and money, slashing smoking-related disease and dollars spent to treat it. I am pleased that lawmakers are at last heeding my repeated calls to support anti-smoking programs with millions the state receives from the tobacco settlement. Connecticut residents seeking to break this lethal addiction deserve help.
"Connecticut has moved from the back to middle of the pack in smoking cessation spending, but we must do better. Connecticut can still be a leader in the fight against tobacco. I will continue to fight for more resources to snuff out the deadly scourge of smoking, which causes millions of preventable illnesses and early deaths."
Yesterday's allocation include $1.2 million for counseling and medication to help those with serious mental illnesses quit smoking; $500,000 for smoking prevention and cessation programs in 10 to 20 school districts; $412,456 for community-based smoking cessation programs; $250,000 to collect lung tissue from lung cancer patients for molecular and genetic analysis and $500,000 to monitor accountability and effectiveness of the programs.
Connecticut's total allocation for smoking cessation in the current fiscal year is $8.3 million.
The state has so far received about $1.1 billion from the tobacco settlement.
