WV FAULTED FOR SPENDING FRACTION OF MILLIONS ON TOBACCO PREVENTION

(12/10/2013)

With West Virginia topping USA states with tobacco usage, a new report says the state is spending only a fraction of its tobacco revenue on efforts to help people get off nicotine. Millions of dollars were received by the state through a class-action suit against tobacco companies, filed by former Attorney General Darrell McGraw. The report was released by a coalition of public health groups saying West Virginia will receive about $165 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes this year. But West Virginia will only spend 3.2 percent of this revenue with prevention and cessation programs. Since the settlement, WV legislators have used the money to fill gaps in the state's budget. The report was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights. See related story   MORE WV TEENS STAY AWAY FROM TOBACCO - State Has High Nicotine Usage

Hur Herald ®from Sunny Cal The information on these pages, to the extent the law allows, remains the exclusive property of Bob Weaver and Dianne Weaver The Hur Herald. All information may be freely used but must not be sold or used in any type of commercial endeavor, or used on any web site without the express permission of the owners ©Bob and Dianne Weaver, The Hur Herald, 1999, 2000, 2001