Snuffed out

COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho mostly failed.

Although the state took steps forward to reduce tobacco use in some areas, it fell short in adequately funding programs to protect children and curb tobacco-related disease in 2012, according to the American Lung Association's report released this week.

The lung association's "State of Tobacco Control" report tracks progress on key tobacco control policies at the federal and state level, assigning grades based on whether laws are adequately protecting citizens from the enormous toll tobacco use takes on lives and the economy.

Idaho received the following grades for 2012: Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Funding: F; Smoke-free Air: B; Cigarette Tax: F; Cessation Coverage: F.

"Idaho must make it a priority to invest in programs that keep kids off tobacco and help smokers quit," said Jan Flynn, Idaho director for the lung association, in a press release announcing the results. "We can do so much more to keep kids from getting addicted to tobacco; it's within our grasp."

But lawmakers failed to act last year on raising the cigarette tax, and likely won't change it this year, one North Idaho lawmaker said.

Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, said Idaho is doing pretty much all it can now. It's well documented smoking is bad for you, buying a bigger billboard isn't going to spread that message any further, he said.

"There was never support to raise taxes is what it comes down to," Vick said.

Last year, groups proposed raising the tax to $1.25 per pack. The state charges a 57 cent tax on a pack of cigarettes, which is one of the lowest tax rates in the country.

But there's also reluctance to start a program that has a goal to decrease use, thereby cutting its own revenues.

"Essentially, you're starting a program on declining revenues," Vick said.

Each year, 443,000 people die from tobacco-related illnesses and secondhand smoke exposure. Tobacco causes an estimated 1,509 deaths in Idaho annually and costs the state's economy more than $685 million in health care costs and lost productivity, according to the press release.

Yet, despite the failing marks, Idaho stood out by increasing its state appropriation for tobacco prevention and control programs to $2.2 million - more than twice the amount appropriated the previous year. In addition, Idaho is receiving $2 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco control.

But also this week Gov. Butch Otter proposed to reduce the amount of tobacco settlement money, called the Idaho Millennium Fund, that goes to tobacco cessation services and instead use the fund's money for the state's Cancer Data Registry and Women's Health Check programs.

Although Idaho receives $74 million in tobacco-related revenue annually, it spends three percent of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends to fund tobacco prevention and quit smoking programs, according to the press release.

"As a regional health district with no say over the money we receive for these programs, we do everything we can with the money we get," Cynthia Taggart, director for the Panhandle Health District, told The Press in an email. PHD initiated the resolution the Legislature passed last year to prohibit the sale, distribution and marketing of electronic cigarettes and their parts to minors. It also works with the local college and hospital to promote smoke-free campuses for the area. "We're working hard now to convince more multi-unit apartment owners and managers to offer completely smoke-free complexes."

In conjunction with the report, the National Institute on Money in State Politics released its own report called "Big Tobacco Wins Tax Battles." Nationwide, the report said, tobacco manufacturers and retailers gave $53.4 million to state candidates for office, political parties and to oppose tobacco-related ballot measures during the 2011-2012 election cycle.

Vick said tobacco wasn't as big a presence in Boise as other lobbying groups.

Coeur d'Alene smoker Jerry, a 47-year old who didn't want to give his last name, said he wished he never picked up the habit, but he doesn't see anything changing legislatively anytime soon.

"They don't want to get rid of it because of all the tax revenue," he said. "It's killing people, but they don't care because of the revenue."