Apr. 13--COLUMBUS -- Nearly a year ago, Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio lawmakers pounded what they thought was the last nail into the coffin of the state's anti-smoking agency and confiscated its $270 million bank account.
The bulk of that money, however, sits untouched to this day in the state's treasury, protected while litigation is waged. The governor cannot spend the nearly quarter of a billion he wanted to for job-creation, and former grant recipients such as St. Luke's Hospital in Maumee cannot provide the financial help they once did to help smokers pay for programs to help them kick the habit.
"[Quitting] is not an easy thing for many people to do," said Robert Miller of Waterville. He knows. He quit with St. Luke's help, relapsed, quit again, relapsed, and now, recently married to a nonsmoker, he's ready to try again.
In the meantime, he's one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit preventing the state from confiscating the money.
"It's frustrating to know that this money is just sitting there when it could assist people to do something to improve their lives and save the state a bundle of money when it comes to treating smoking-related illnesses," he said. "Used wisely, this was going to last many, many years."
Debbie Matthews, St. Luke's tobacco treatment center supervisor, has seen an increase in the number of inquiries about its programs, presumably because a record hike in the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents a pack to $1.01 took effect on April 1. That's on top of the $1.25 cigarette tax that Ohio imposes.
The Ohio Department of Health experienced a dramatic jump in calls to the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line that it inherited from the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation. On March 25, a week before the tax hike took effect, 96 people called seeking state help in kicking the habit.
The number climbed as the week went on, peaking at 231 on the eve of the hike's effective date.
"In 1984, 31 percent of [Ohio] males and nearly 26 percent of females smoked," department spokesman Kristopher Weiss said. "Today, it's 24 and 22 percent respectively. A lot of factors played into that. The Ohio Department of Health has more resources today than it did prior to the transition.
"With the recent increase in the price of tobacco and taxes and the fact that we're nearly two years into the [enforcement] of the smoking ban, we will continue to have a positive impact," he said.
The department now spends about $7.4 million a year, less than 20 percent of the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation's annual budget of about $40 million at the time it was dismantled.
The department has received approval to spend $6 million from the court-frozen foundation funds, less than 20 percent of what the foundation had been spending to operate the cessation-aid line and to provide grants to local agencies.
The remaining $1.4 million of the health department budget comes from a grant through the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A large portion of the foundation's funding previously had underwritten the "stand" ad campaign aimed at encouraging youths to resist peer pressure to take up smoking. No state money supports that effort today.
Early last year, the Democratic governor and Republican legislative leaders struck a deal on a $1.57 billion economic stimulus package. The deal called for the foundation to turn over $230 million for the effort, leaving it with just $40 million in its endowment, roughly the amount of its annual budget.
After years of watching lawmakers divert promised checks from the state's settlement with major tobacco companies to other purposes, the foundation's trustees balked when the state then reached for the money already in its coffers.
In a hastily called meeting, the board voted to transfer $190 million of its $270 million bank account to a Washington-based organization that promised to continue Ohio's anti-smoking mission. This infuriated the governor and legislature, which swiftly enacted a law dissolving the foundation, taking the $230 million for the jobs package and turning over the remaining $40 million to the Department of Health to continue a greatly scaled-back version of the foundation's programming.
A Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge in February issued a preliminary injunction against the state, determining that lawmakers apparently had done too good a job when they created an irrevocable trust in 2000 to help Ohioans fight tobacco addiction. A trial is set for June to determine whether that injunction should be made permanent.
In the meantime, except for a few million here and there to allow the Department of Health to continue the Ohio Quits Line and some grant programs, the bulk of the money remains in limbo.
The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio, which serves 14 counties stretching from Lucas to Auglaize, was one of the foundation's largest grant recipients. Last year, the regional organization distributed $647,037 among various anti-smoking efforts, including $60,000 to St. Luke's.
The council had received approval for another grant from the foundation for this year, but the Department of Health did not honor the agreement when the foundation was folded. The council failed to receive any funding under the department's own grant application process.
Jan Ruma, council vice president, said the state is missing a golden opportunity as the federal cigarette tax collides with Ohio's ban on indoor public smoking to increase the number of smokers seeking help.
"We were really pleased with the ruling that said the money needs to be spent for the purpose for which it was intended," she said. "But a lot of good infrastructure has been destroyed. How will it be rebuilt?"
Ms. Matthews of St. Luke's said that because of the lack of funds, many who called the hospital as the tax hike took effect will never get the help they sought.
"We got a lot of phone calls, but when they found out they have to pay for it, only about 50 percent of the people actually made an appointment," she said. "Of those, another 50 or 60 percent will walk through the door. That's without funding. It changes when we have funding."
Once a leader in anti-smoking programs because of its initial commitment to dedicate a chunk of its annual settlement checks from major tobacco companies to smoking prevention and cessation programs, Ohio now gets failing grades from the American Lung Association on funding anti-smoking programs and providing coverage for smoking treatment and medications.
Its only "A" grade comes for its broad indoor public smoking ban approved by voters in 2006, making it the first Midwestern state to enact such a ban.
Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
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