Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Report Says States Do Not Use Tobacco Settlement Money for Prevention of Smoking

Aired August 11, 2001 - 15:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Of the billions of dollars awarded to 46 states in the landmark 1998 tobacco settlement, only a small portion is said to be going toward preventing smoking. The money was to be used at the state's discretion, and a scathing report from the National Conference of State Legislatures finds of the $21 billion, for fiscal years 2000 to 2002, more than 35 percent is going toward health care, 26 percent to endowments or state budget reserves, less than 10 percent to schools or youth programs, and then than 5 percent is being used to prevent smoking addiction.

Co-author of that report, Lee Dixon, is joining us by phone from San Antonio, Texas, with more on the report. Mr. Dixon, hello, can you hear us?

LEE DIXON, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATORS: Yes, I can.

KELLEY: Hi, thanks. When you did this report, you found that quite a little bit is not going to what it was intended to. What do about that, though?

DIXON: Well, I think we ought to concentrate on the positive here, and that $1.1 billion is being spent by the states on tobacco use prevention. That's $1.1 billion that the states found money that they would not have been spending otherwise. And in fact, putting it in perspective, it's three times the amount that the Centers for Disease Control spent on tobacco prevention and use during the same period.

KELLEY: And in that same positive note, I understand that -- but it's really not as much as the CDC wanted to see going for prevention. About 5 percent you found, and the CDC recommended about 20 to 25 percent they'd like to see going.

DIXON: That's correct. I think the states are working toward a higher figure. What they are trying to do is put the infrastructure in place, put the capacity at the school-based services and community- based services so that these dollars can be used prudently in the future.

KELLEY: What you see then, it sounds like to me, is that you are seeing that they are putting this program in place and trying to make it for the future, getting started and putting things in place? DIXON: Yes. In fact, Ohio is an excellent example of that, where over the next 10 years, they will be putting together a $1.2 billion endowment fund that will fund tobacco prevention in perpetuity.

KELLEY: But what about Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore? He's quoted in the "New York Times" as saying that "it's moral treason to me," he said that this money is not being spent in a way that he would like for it, apparently, to be spent, toward preventing smoking?

DIXON: Well, I think advocates will always have their position where they want to have more dollars going toward their programs. I think the states have gone through a very public process, through hearings across the state and within their state legislatures, getting citizens' input on how these dollars should be used and what the priorities of the state are, and come up with a fact that some 46 percent of the dollars are used for health care -- Medicaid, children's health insurance programs, long-term care and pharmaceutical assistance to the elderly.

KELLEY: All right. Well, we feel like you'll be following the story and we'll get more information from you as it goes along. Lee Dixon, who is with the National Conference of State Legislators, the director there, thank you very much. Appreciate you talking with us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com