>Report: N.J. 43rd in anti-smoking effort
Even as it charges among the highest cigarette taxes in the U.S. and collects millions from an ongoing tobacco company settlement, New Jersey is stingy when it comes to anti-smoking efforts.
A report released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and four other organizations concluded the state ranks 43rd in the nation in funding anti-smoking programs.
“A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 13 Years Later,” comes just two months after a separate September study on the state’s anti-tobacco efforts. It concluded New Jersey has earned about $5 billion in tobacco revenues over the past five years, with only 0.8 percent of it directed to prevention programs. (Mitchell, Gannett)
