ALAMEDA COUNTY: Supervisors Will Not Commit to Anti-Smoking Programs
Alameda County supervisors Tuesday approved policies allowing them to establish health initiative funds with the $18 million a year that will come from tobacco settlement money, but did not guarantee any funding for tobacco prevention or smoking cessation programs, the Contra Costa Times reports. The new policies allocate about $450 million over 25 years to local health care concerns involving public health, mental health, school-linked services and expanded health coverage. Despite their refusal to earmark monies to anti-smoking efforts, board members indicated that such programs will likely receive some funding as "more settlement details are worked out." Board President Wilma Chan said, "I have no doubt that we'll spend some of this money on tobacco cessation." But local anti-tobacco advocates were not satisfied. "If we fail to allocate enough money to truly help smokers quit ... and to keep tobacco out of the hands of youth, the tobacco industry has won," Rich Sevilla of the Alameda County Tobacco Coalition said (Brewer, 1/27).
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