Confronted with a public smoking ban, higher sin taxes and more anti-smoking efforts, fewer Ohioans are lighting up.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 20.2 percent of Ohioans smoked in 2008, a 7.5 percent decline from 2001, when Ohio ranked fourth in the country for smokers. The CDC data goes back to 1998, when the smoking rate was 26.2.
Ohio now has the 17th-highest rate of smokers, according to the study. The CDC reports 21.5 percent of men in Ohio smoked and 19 percent of women.
But there are fears those numbers could rise again.
In 2008, the state cut funding for the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation, which funded community anti-smoking initiatives after the state received its share of a settlement with tobacco companies. The foundation began in 2000 with a $40 million budget.
Gov. Ted Strickland used future tobacco settlement money to balance the budget, shutting down the foundation. Anti-smoking groups challenged this decision, and a Franklin County judge ruled in August that Strickland must use the settlement money for tobacco-related programs.
The state appealed, and the case is still tied up in court.
For now, the Ohio Department of Health is trying to take the foundation’s place with a $7.3 million budget.
Amanda Wurst, spokeswoman for Gov. Ted Strickland, said $6 million of this comes from the settlement and the rest comes from federal programs.
Wurst said the health department is looking for other federal and state partners.
Marijean Siehl, the health department’s tobacco youth coordinator, said the department is applying for federal stimulus dollars to replace the lost funds. Until then, the department will keep up the 24-hour hot line to help those who want to quit and also provide community grants, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Siehl said there are other factors contributing to the decline of smoking in the state.
In 2006, voters approved a ban on smoking indoors in public places. The sin tax is $1.25 per pack, slightly lower than the national average. The CDC also has stepped up its efforts.
The Community Action for Capable Youth program in Mansfield is one of the community programs originally funded by the foundation and now funded by the ODH.
Director Karen Miller said the organization will likely be hurt if further cuts are made.
Miller said that in the last five years the number of middle school students smoking in Richland County went from 22 percent to 13 percent. This affects the number of adult smokers down the line because often if people haven’t started smoking by age 18, they never will.
She attributed the decrease to life skills programs — teaching kids alternate ways to deal with stress.
Mary Richardson, an educator with the Licking County Health Department, said she has seen a great deal of success in the area, but also worries about future budget cuts.
She said a major reason for the decline in smokers is the down economy. The $1.25 tax has prompted more people to reach out to smoking cessation programs.
“People are trying to save money any way they can,” she said.
Licking Memorial Hospital funds its own smoking cessation program, she said. The department is also working with federal programs.
The health department focuses on prevention, trying to keep kids from trying cigarettes.
Locally, the most recent data available was from 2004 to 2007. During this time in Ross County, 24.3 percent of adults smoked — 25.3 percent of men and 23.2 percent of women, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Between 2004 and 2006, 27.1 percent of pregnant women reported smoking.Ohio’s smoking rate is significantly lower than its neighbors. According to the 2008 CDC data, 20.4 percent of adults in Michigan smoked, 21.4 percent in Pennsylvania, 25.3 percent in Kentucky, 26.1 percent in Indiana and 26.6 percent in West Virginia.
Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia have the highest rates in the nation. States with the lowest rates are Utah at 9.2 percent, California at 14 percent and New Jersey at 14.8 percent.
The lowest three states do not allow smoking indoors in public places. The three states with the highest percentage do not have a statewide ban, although several municipalities have city laws against it, including Louisville, Ky., and Bloomington, Ind.
source: www.chillicothegazette.com
Loading ...