January 19, 2012   Anti-tobacco efforts by U.S. states were “abysmal” last year as their collective spending on anti- smoking programs declined 11 percent and only two raised cigarette taxes, the American Lung Association (ALA) said. While more than half the states already ban the use of cigarettes in restaurants, bars, and workplaces, no additional states passed comprehensive anti-smoking laws last year. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia earned grades of “F” for funding smoking-prevention programs at less than half the levels the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged in a 2007 report. None of the states earned “A” grades in all four policy areas covered in the report: cigarette taxes, smoking bans, tobacco-prevention spending, and cessation coverage. Six states—Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia—scored grades of “F” in all four areas. Most states’ anti-smoking scores lagged behind those of the federal government, which didn’t receive any failing grades in four categories.

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