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Myers: Spend more to fight tobacco Education program pays off By Bill Kettler Legislators fighting budget battles in Salem must find a way to expand Oregon�s successful tobacco-education program, Attorney General Hardy Myers said Wednesday. "Relatively few people begin smoking as adults," Myers said. "Almost every youth we can get to adulthood without smoking will not start smoking." Myers said Oregon spends barely half the recommended minimum amount for tobacco education. Cuts in that already-meager funding could jeopardize the success of a program that has been credited for substantially reducing tobacco use among young people between 1998 and 2000. Myers spoke to about 40 community leaders who met to discuss tobacco-education efforts in Jackson County and across Oregon. Counties have money to spend on tobacco education because voters in 1996 approved Measure 44, which raised tobacco taxes and appropriated money to teach youngsters about the health risks of tobacco. Tobacco use among youngsters fell dramatically in Jackson County between 1998 and 2000. Surveys that measured cigarette smoking among children in grades six, eight and 11 showed that use declined from 11 percent to 5.1 percent in grade six; 30.2 percent to 11.7 percent in grade eight; and from 35.1 percent to 21.7 percent in grade 11. The dramatic decline shows that education works, said Stephanie Soares-Pump, director of Southern Oregon Drug Awareness. "(Tobacco) use was down so much we were convinced at first that something was wrong (with the data)," she said. "But believe it. When we work together, we can accomplish amazing things." Myers said his "Report on Tobacco and Kids" (which is scheduled for formal release next week) will call for increased funding for tobacco education, stronger consequences for stores that sell tobacco to minors, and further restrictions on where and how tobacco can be sold. "It�s still relatively easy for our kids to get cigarettes in Oregon," Myers said. He suggested redesigned identity cards and drivers� licenses could make it easier for retailers to avoid selling tobacco to minors. Myers and other speakers talked of challenges to anti-smoking efforts that are expected to emerge during the 2001 Legislature. Dave Delvallee of the American Lung Association said legislators should resist proposals that would deprive cities of the power to write their own ordinances to regulate tobacco. Delvallee and other health advocates fear that tobacco interests may propose a weak state anti-smoking law that could prevent cities from writing stronger measures. Tough tobacco regulations "at the community level is the tobacco companies� biggest nightmare," he said. Delvallee said the Legislature must also decide how to spend Oregon�s share of the "master settlement" negotiated by states and the tobacco companies they sued. The original sense of the settlement was for the money to be spent on tobacco-related health problems and tobacco education, but nothing requires legislators to spend the money on those programs. Delvallee said the American Lung Association and other health organizations would like to see 60 percent of the money dedicated to tobacco-related illnesses covered by the Oregon Health Plan, 20 percent to end-of-life care for victims of tobacco-related illnesses, and 20 percent for tobacco education. Myers said during an interview that there will be competition for the settlement money because it has arrived at a time when the Legislature does not have enough money to support existing services. "We�re facing some awfully hard choices," he said, "in some critical program areas." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.