Report Slams Georgia Spending Against Tobacco As Inadequate

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January 3rd, 2020

This fiscal year, states will collect $27.2 billion from a 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. But they will spend less than 3% – $739.7 million – on programs to prevent kids from using tobacco and help smokers quit. In Georgia, that percentage is just 0.7%, with $750,000 appropriated in each of the past two fiscal years.

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A recent report ranks Georgia No. 49 among the states and the District of Columbia on preventing kids from using tobacco products.

The report, released by several public health organizations, measures states’ spending of tobacco settlement dollars on prevention, in fighting both tobacco use and the rise in e-cigarette use among kids.

This fiscal year, the states will collect $27.2 billion from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. But they will spend less than 3% – $739.7 million – on programs to prevent kids from using tobacco and help smokers quit.

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