{"id":1808,"date":"2021-10-15T12:40:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T12:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiZWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmN0aW5zaWRlci5jb20vb3Bpbmlvbi9hcnRpY2xlL0VkaXRvcmlhbC1DVC1uZWVkcy10by1raWNrLWEtYmFkLXRvYmFjY28taGFiaXQtMTY1MzUwMDIucGhw0gEA"},"modified":"2021-10-15T12:40:03","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T12:40:03","slug":"editorial-ct-needs-to-kick-a-bad-tobacco-habit-ct-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=1808","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: CT needs to kick a bad tobacco habit – CT Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If \u201cJeopardy!\u201d posed a question about which states are tied in last place for spending on tobacco control, it\u2019s reasonable that many contestants could cite Tennessee as one of the right answers.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s equally reasonable that a second guess would be a different Southern state, say North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia or Georgia.<\/p>\n

So the correct response of \u201cConnecticut\u201d makes it seem like a trick question.<\/p>\n

Yet the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids locks Tennessee and Connecticut together in the basement of the standings for per capita spending to combat tobacco use.<\/p>\n

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The Connecticut Mirror reports this week that agencies that take a clear stand against smoking are pressuring the state to invest more resources in fighting tobacco addiction.<\/p>\n

The article notes that Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged during his first year in office that his state needs to reverse the history of collecting billions of dollars from Big Tobacco and Small Tobacco (that would be the individual smoker) without spending it on initiatives to stifle addiction.<\/p>\n

Two years later, Lamont\u2019s words seem to have gone up in smoke.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a formula that recommends Connecticut spend $32 million annually on efforts such as steering kids away from tobacco. The state\u2019s General Fund is short of reaching that figure by … $32 million.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office offers some hazy answers on cessation programs that show up elsewhere in the budget. To be fair, Lamont has been pretty occupied in the past 19 months with a more immediate public health crisis.<\/p>\n

One way Connecticut has tried to discourage smokers is by having the second-highest cigarette tax among states ($4.35 per pack). That generated some $350 million, which would seem to be enough to spare for that $32 million goal.<\/p>\n

In an era when even James Bond seems to have kicked the habit, consider the bigger picture. Connecticut is new this year to the marijuana revenue stream. And we\u2019ve frequently reported on concerns from educators about the rise in vaping among students in Connecticut classrooms.<\/p>\n