Anti-smoking groups want N.J. to increase funding to help smokers quit

For every dollar New Jersey collects in tobacco revenue, it spends less than a penny on programs that help people stop smoking or never start.
Anti-tobacco advocacy groups say they want the state to spend 12 cents, phased-in over four years, to fulfill a "moral obligation," and protect the health of thousands of people who will get sick and possibly die from smoking related illnesses.
Over the last decade, state lawmakers have whittled away spending on state-sponsored smoking cessation programs from $30 million to $1.5 million, said Jennifer Sullivan of the American Cancer Society and coauthor of "Up in Smoke, a report released yesterday. But the state collected $750 million in tobacco taxes last fiscal year and spent $240 million in proceeds from a national settlement with tobacco companies, the report says.
With New Jersey imposing the sixth-highest cigarette tax in the nation, at $2.70 a pack, "We believe the money is there,’’ Sullivan said during a Statehouse press conference in Trenton.
"When you talk to these people they have very often tried to stop smoking but don’t have the support to do it," said Howard Levite, medical director of the Heart Institute at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center. "This is where the failing of the state is identified."