What CDC throught about Sac Bee story the other day on $$$ not being spent on tobacco control in California

I asked the CDC what they thought of the story in the Sacramento Bee on the fact that California is not spending much on tobacco control. 

Here is the email I got back.  (Miller is the No on 29 person that the Bee quoted.)

From:McAfee, Timothy (CDC/ONDIEH/NCCDPHP) [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 2:27 PM
To: Glantz, Stanton A
Subject: RE: How Sac Bee read your MMWR paper last week

Thanks for sending this Stan.

Miller seems to be arguing that since there was not enough done in the past because the revenue wasn’t sufficiently dedicated to tobacco control, that therefore nothing should be done now because the legislature will use the $$ for non-tobacco control purposes. But then at the end, sounds like she is making the opposite argument, saying that it is an issue that the $$ isn’t under legislative control.

The article also doesn’t point out two things that are factual:

1)     25% of the tax revenue in the proposed tax would be dedicated to tobacco control, with provisions to ensure this continued. This is in line with CDC recommendations for program funding. This would help improve the situation, although even with this increase, California will be below CDC guidelines.

2)     California’s tax is one of only 3 states that hasn’t increased its tax in this century, and is below average in tax rate. A dollar increase will result in an increase in quit attempts, lower consumption, and a drop in prevalence.

From:Glantz, Stanton A [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 5:23 PM
To: McAfee, Timothy (CDC/ONDIEH/NCCDPHP)
Subject: How Sac Bee read your MMWR paper last week

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/29/4521907/most-tobacco-money-california.html

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