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OPINION

The new year promises easier breathing in state

Letter
Comments (16)

Monday, December 28, 2009

(Updated 3:05 am)

Jan. 2 will be an historic day for North Carolina as the state’s restaurants and bars become smoke-free by law. The American Lung Association in North Carolina commends Gov. Bev Perdue and lung health champions like bill sponsor Rep. Hugh Holliman for protecting North Carolinians from exposure to secondhand smoke.

With the new law, smokers need support to help them quit. The ALA applauds the decision to provide Medicaid recipients and state employees with tools to quit smoking, including counseling, prescription drug therapies and aids like gum and patches. In 2010, the State Health Plan will move smoking-cessation pharmaceuticals from a third-tier, $55 monthly co-payment to a second-tier, $35 co-payment. The ALA encourages employers to follow the state’s lead.

Smokers who would like to quit can access support from the ALA HelpLine, 1-800-LUNG USA (1-800-586-4872) and our online smoking-cessation program, www.ffsonline.org.

North Carolina is poised to have a healthier year in 2010, but more must be done to ensure our air is free from pollutants that cause lung disease. The ALA will continue the fight for healthy lungs and air. We care about every breath you take.

Deborah Bryan
Raleigh

The writer is American Lung Association in North Carolina state executive.

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lilbean

December 28, 2009 - 3:52 am EST

didn't the epa just state that the very breath we exhale is a "pollutant"?

histrion

December 28, 2009 - 11:06 am EST

... which is the very reason you exhale it. ;-)

neocon

December 28, 2009 - 6:54 am EST

Here's my idea, Ms. Bryan...have the state stop pillaging my paycheck to fund gum and counseling for smokers, and I'll teach my children about the dangers of such activities.

Many of us do not need nor want you nanny staters tending to our every need.

danagain

December 28, 2009 - 8:19 am EST

What happened to the billions paid out by BIG Tobacco to the states to fund smoking cessation programs?

"In addition to the billions they receive every year from the tobacco settlement, the states collect billions more in tobacco taxes.

This latest report, issued December 9, 2009, finds that the states are collecting record amounts of tobacco revenue — $25.1 billion this year alone — but are spending less of it on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. In fact, states have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs by more than 15 percent in the past year.

Only one state — North Dakota — currently funds a tobacco prevention program at the level recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only nine other states fund tobacco prevention at even half the CDC-recommended level, while 31 states and DC provide less than a quarter of the recommended funding."

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/

ghost from white oak

December 28, 2009 - 10:16 am EST

In answer to your question, pissed away on other projects.
It was seen as nothing more than another windfall to be spent as seen fit.

xeno10

December 28, 2009 - 11:24 am EST

"cut & paste" danagain, you're not very bright, are you?

Rollo

December 28, 2009 - 7:30 pm EST

It's like a broken record... "danagain, you're not very bright, are you?"

rightwingnemesis

December 28, 2009 - 7:02 pm EST

A lot of states capitalized the cash stream from the tobacco settlement into bonds, leveraging the money to make many needed improvements in their public health systems. South Carolina issued bonds, secured by the settlement payments, but North Carolina did not. While they may not have put a big banner on the programs saying "TOBACCO SETTLEMENT MONEY USED FOR THIS", there have been many great things occuring in NC with these funds.
Here's where some of it goes:
http://www.goldenleaf.org/about.html

(Oh, Mr. danagain, stick to talking about shower curtain rings)

danagain

December 28, 2009 - 8:25 pm EST

Sorry, I'll buy the info from tobaccofreekids. Did you read the title? "A broken promise to our children".

BTW, since you mentioned South Carolina you may find this of interest:

"Alaska is making the best use of cigarette taxes and Big Tobacco settlement money distributed to states in the decade after authorities negotiated a deal with the companies over smoking-related health costs incurred by the states, according to a new report released today by a coalition of advocacy groups. South Carolina ranks the worst.

States have received $203.5 billion in tobacco revenue since the Master Settlement Agreement between states’ attorneys general and cigarette makers in 1998. The agreement required the companies to reimburse states for the money they spent treating smoking-related illnesses. It didn’t stipulate how states should spend the funds, but many attorneys general and public health officials said they’d use it and revenue from cigarette taxes to discourage children from smoking. But just over 3 percent of that money – about $65 billion – has been spent on tobacco prevention and treatment programs, according to the report.

This year, Alaska is spending 86 percent of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends it should, compared to 1.6 percent by South Carolina, the report says. The CDC guidelines are different for each state, based on its population and percentage of smokers."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=tob...

1.6% for South Carolina? What about the children?

ghost from white oak

December 28, 2009 - 10:17 am EST

Your tax dollars at work, yet again.

xeno10

December 28, 2009 - 11:20 am EST

And so, Ms. Bryan, "Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo" will soon be "Gone with the Wind." Really???? Seriously???? (Applause!)

rahrah

December 28, 2009 - 11:58 am EST

I'll enjoy the clean air and other benefits of the new law, but it's a serious encroachment on the freedom of business owners to operate their businesses as they please.

danagain

December 28, 2009 - 2:36 pm EST

Hey rahrah where you been? I'm in the same boat as you, but only dine at one restaurant that allows smoking.

Rollo

December 28, 2009 - 7:33 pm EST

Very true rahrah. I'm not a big fan of smoking, but I don't believe the government should have any say in what a private business owner does. Personally, I think it'll hurt businesses that serve alcohol.