Proposed cut in anti-smoking funds decried Health advocates urge lawmakers to spare successful programs

AUGUSTA – A 36 percent reduction in teen smoking proves the value of state health programs funded by tobacco-lawsuit settlement money, health advocates said Tuesday as they urged lawmakers to spare the Fund for a Healthy Maine from the budget cleaver.

“If programs that are well-funded … are cut back, we know that the progress that has been made will be stalled or reversed,” said William Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

“Big tobacco will continue to be targeting our kids,” Corr warned those attending a State House rally shortly after Gov. Angus King unveiled his supplemental budget. “Stay the course. You are the nation’s leader. Don’t stop now.”

In his proposed budget, King seeks to cut those programs in the Fund for a Healthy Maine by $1.3 million. In addition, the budget seeks to divert $13.4 million the programs have not yet received due to their late startups.

Children’s nutrition, prescription drugs, health education, child care and substance abuse are among the other services in the Fund for a Healthy Maine, which is supported by the roughly $55 million coming to Maine annually from the tobacco lawsuit settlement.

House Speaker Michael Saxl, who joined advocates at the rally, said afterward that given the $248 million budget shortfall facing the state, there must be room for some cuts in the health programs.

But the Portland Democrat said the cuts should be apportioned evenly to all state programs and services.

The fund is well-known for its programs to keep youths from smoking in Maine, where nearly four out of 10 high school students surveyed four years ago said they were smokers. Last month, state officials announced that the teen smoking rate had dropped by 36 percent to just one in four.

Attorney General Steven Rowe, who was House speaker when the tobacco-lawsuit funded programs were adopted, sought to draw links between a healthy economy and healthy populace.

By adopting healthy living patterns, Mainers will reduce the $2 billion annual cost of treating chronic diseases. At the same time, healthier people make better students and a better work force, Rowe added.

“If we want a healthy economy we must first have healthy citizens,” said Rowe. “We cannot afford to be shortsighted with the health of Maine people.”

Rowe said Maine is one of the few states that has committed most of its share of the tobacco settlement money to health programs.

“It would be a shame if … this state took steps to back away from its commitment to health,” he said.

Republican Senate President Richard Bennett of Norway invited the health advocates to make their case before lawmakers during the session that has just gotten under way.