By Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Colorado ranks 6th nationwide in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a report by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other public health groups. Despite the high ranking, tobacco use kills 5,100 Coloradans each year and costs the state $1.9 billion in health care bills annually.
“The report challenges states to do more to fight tobacco use – the nation’s leading cause of preventable death – and make the next generation tobacco-free. In Colorado, 8.6 percent of high school students smoke, and 2,200 kids become regular smokers each year.
Other key findings in the report include:
- Colorado will collect $292.6 million in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 8.3 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs.
- Tobacco companies spend $130.1 million each year to market their deadly and addictive products in Colorado – more than 5 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention. Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $8.9 billion a year on marketing – that’s $1 million every hour.”
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