NM Ranks 14 For Smoking Prevention Funding

From New Mexico Business Weekly - New Mexico ranks 14th in the nation in fiscal 2011 in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report by a coalition of public health organizations. The state currently spends $7 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 29.8 percent of the $23.4 million recommended by the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Mexico spent $9.5 million in fiscal 2010. New Mexico’s tobacco-generated revenue, from settlements and tobacco taxes is $129 million for fiscal 2011.

“New Mexico's tobacco settlement funds are governed by a law passed in 2000 by the legislature and signed by [former] Gov. Gary E. Johnson that placed 50 percent of the state's tobacco settlement payments in a permanent trust fund," the report noted. "Under the law, the other half of settlement payments are placed into a program fund that can be spent on a variety of health-related programs appropriated through the state's annual budget process."
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NM Ranks 14 For Smoking Prevention Funding