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Summit County cancels free classes because of funding
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Jul 13, 2008
Attention, smokers: Free stop-smoking classes throughout Summit County have been canceled effective immediately because money from the tobacco settlement is in limbo.
While the state of Ohio and public health officials wrangle over the money in court, Summit County is putting its program on hold.
''During the first half of this year, we saw a dramatic increase of people contacting us,'' said Jill Oldham, director of the county's Tobacco Prevention Coalition. ''To turn people away who are ready to make a quit attempt is very disheartening.''
Since the inception of the local program in November 2003, the coalition has received about $2 million from
the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation, which itself was funded by a $270 million endowment provided in a 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies.
While the cost of the Summit County program for each smoker who took at least one class — about $1,850 — may seem high, Oldham pointed out that the money funded many other initiatives.
These included training about 750 medical staff in tobacco intervention strategies and delivering anti-smoking programs at dozens of schools.
Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio legislature stripped the Ohio foundation of $230 million of its funding in April to create an economic stimulus package and reserved the balance for anti-tobacco programs at the Ohio Department of Health.
The state health department sued to hold onto all the original funding. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Fais since has released $10 million of the $40 million the state earmarked for smoking programs to the state health department.
''Every time there are budget problems, these programs tend to go on the chopping block,'' said Dave Dobbins, chief operating officer of the American Legacy Foundation, the national organization funded through the tobacco settlement and a partner in the state lawsuit. ''Unfortunately in times like this, sometimes you can be penny wise and pound foolish.''
Since tobacco companies agreed to pay more than $200 billion over 26 years to compensate states for the medical costs of residents with tobacco-related diseases, not all states have used the funding the way it was intended, Dobbins said.
Most states have spent only a fraction of their settlement on anti-tobacco activities. Many have used the settlements to pay off debt and support unrelated programs, he said.
Nationwide, tobacco claims 800,000 lives a year and affects the health of 8.5 million more people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the number of smokers has gone down, the number of adult smokers across the country has been stuck at about 20 percent since 2004, Dobbins said. More than 21 percent of high school seniors still smoke.
In Summit County, the numbers are higher, Oldham said. According to the recent Ohio Adult Tobacco Survey, 23.5 percent of Summit County residents smoke, compared to 22.9 percent statewide.
Tom Quade, deputy director of administration for the Akron Health Department and a member of the local coalition, is optimistic that the anti-tobacco work can continue.
''We have a lot of folks who have come to the rescue of public health in the past,'' he said. ''But there's a difference between coming to the rescue and providing money.''
An Akron Health Department staffer will continue to offer some stop-smoking classes. But as her salary is paid by the city, the classes will be for Akron residents only, he said. He did not know when those classes would begin.
In the meantime, smokers bent on quitting can call the state's toll-free hot line at 800-QUITNOW for counseling.
In addition, the self-help group Nicotine Anonymous meets at the United Methodist Church in Stow, 4880 Fishcreek Road, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday. The Web site is http://www.nicotine-anonymous.org.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
Attention, smokers: Free stop-smoking classes throughout Summit County have been canceled effective immediately because money from the tobacco settlement is in limbo.
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