| The budget also limits state spending on tobacco prevention from the Account to $2.5 million next year.
``$2.5 million is not enough to keep youth smoking rates where they are now, let alone reduce them,'' said state health officer Dr. Maxine Hayes. ``If this budget stands, we should all get used to the fact that more kids will be smoking.''
In 1999, the legislature established the Tobacco Prevention and Control Account, and earmarked $100 million from the settlement for the Account.
The tobacco industry spends more than $100 million on marketing in Washington annually. |
