State's Smoking Prevention Efforts Get Mixed Grades

State's Smoking Prevention Efforts Get Mixed Grades
American Lung Association Releases State-By-State Report
BY WILLIAM WEIR, bweir@courant.com

The Hartford Courant

7:20 PM EST, January 19, 2012

The American Lung Association gave Connecticut failing grades for how little it spends on smoking prevention efforts, but high marks for the state's steep sales tax on cigarettes.

The American Lung Association released its state-by-state report Thursday. Connecticut received an "F" for spending only a fraction of its $500 million tobacco revenues on smoking prevention and control and an "F" for minimal coverage of smoke cessation programs. But the average sales tax of $3.40 per cigarette pack earned the state an "A," and Connecticut laws restricting smoking in public places received a "C."

Dr. Carl Sherter, chief of the pulmonary section at Waterbury Hospital, said he agrees with the ALA's assessment.

"We spend very little if anything of the hundreds of millions given to us," he said. Sherter said he has unsuccessfully tried to persuade state officials for five years to allow Medicaid coverage for nicotine cessation medication.

That's finally changed. As of the start of this year, anyone covered under Medicaid can get over-the-counter and prescription medicines for smoking cessation. Even better, Sherter said, would be if the state organized and funded smoking cessation programs. Budgetary concerns have kept the state from spending more, which Sherter said is shortsighted.

"If you can stop somebody from smoking, you save a lot in the long run," he said.

But Sherter said the state has made progress. "Twenty years ago, if you walked outside of a hospital, they'd be smoking outside the portico," he said. "Now you have to walk down the street."

Bryte Johnson of the state chapter of the American Cancer Society said the report "is very concerning and clearly shows we have a lot of work ahead of us."

Two Fs, an A and a C is hardly an exemplary report card, but it could be worse. Six states — Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia — received all failing grades. No state received straight As, but four states — Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma — earned all passing grades.