Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - As New York deals with its dire fiscal crisis, Governor Paterson is proposing to cut another $10million from the anti-smoking program "Tobacco Free New York."
This would bring funding to about $58 million, down from $85 million a year ago. The group fears that the TV ads that encourage people to quit smoking will have to go.
Tobacco free New York uses various tactics in their anti-smoking ads. No matter what the latest one looks like, they all have one purpose:
“The TV ads provide resources like the quit line where they can get free nicotine replacement therapies at least take the first step to try and quit smoking,” said Jason Warchall, from the American Cancer Society.
The American Cancer Society works with tobacco free Onondaga County on their efforts. Warchall says cutting funding will have long term affects. “We'll see increase in mortality from smoking and tobacco related illness,” he said.
2.5 million people in New York State light up, But that number has dropped in the last two years. While the $10 million cut would save the state money for now, Anti-smoking proponents say it will eventually cost more in health care costs. “If we were to try to get them to quit, we'd have awesome results in Medicare budgets going down, and spending in long term would be down,” Warchall said.
This cut is expected to be part of negotiations in Albany this weekend. In a statement, a spokesperson for Governor Paterson’s office says the fiscal emergency facing the state made it necessary to propose reductions across every single area of spending. That includes less money for what they acknowledge are worthy programs.
