Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education, Inc.

1. What is the purpose of the youth tobacco control constitutional amendment?

This constitutional amendment is designed to protect Floridians, especially youth, from addiction, disease and other health hazards associated with tobacco use. This amendment would require the Florida Legislature to annually fund a comprehensive, statewide tobacco education and prevention program, using tobacco settlement money and utilizing the 1999 Centers for Disease Control’s best practices to primarily target youth and other at-risk Floridians. Annual funding would be 15 percent of 2005 tobacco settlement payments to Florida, adjusted annually for inflation, with one-third of total annual funding being used for advertising.

2. What key outreach activities would this constitutional amendment provide?

A marketing campaign that will include television, radio and print advertising
Evidence-based school curriculum and programs
Support of locally-based partnerships such as Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT)
Enforcement of laws, regulations and policies against the sale or other provision of tobacco to minors and the possession of tobacco by minors
Annual evaluation of the program’s effectiveness in reducing and preventing underage tobacco use and recommendations to enhance the program’s effectiveness

3. What is the scope of the problem of smoking, specifically among youth?

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for more than 440,000 deaths each year. In Florida, nearly 29,000 deaths are attributable to tobacco use annually, and the threat of tobacco is greatest among youth. In fact, more than 35,900 children under the age of 18 become new, daily smokers each year, and about one-third of those will eventually lose their lives to this addiction. Currently, 296,900 kids under the age of 18 living in Florida today will eventually die prematurely from smoking.

4. How do we pay for a statewide youth tobacco prevention and education program?

Florida receives more than $360 million annually from the tobacco settlement, yet only $1 million—just a fraction of 1 percent—is currently used to educate Florida’s youth about the dangers of tobacco use. Nevertheless, marketing by the tobacco industry is higher in Florida than in any other state. In 2005, a staggering $1.262 billion was spent by the tobacco industry to market their products to a new generation of Florida smokers. By utilizing tobacco settlement money to fund a comprehensive, statewide tobacco education and prevention program in Florida, the state can help combat these efforts to keep kids tobacco-free. Additionally, by preventing kids from becoming adult smokers, Florida can help reduce the enormous financial costs and taxpayer burdens associated with smoking. Current annual health care costs directly caused by smoking total $5.82 billion in Florida, with an additional $5.86 billion in lost productivity. This amounts to Florida taxpayers handing over $554 per household, per year, to help pay for the state’s smoking burden.

5. What is the significance behind requesting 15 percent of the tobacco settlement payments to Florida to fund the state’s tobacco education and prevention program?

During the five, full years that the Youth Tobacco Control Program was funded in Florida; the average appropriation was $47 million. Fifteen percent would generate roughly $54 million per year. Factoring in inflation and increased costs of advertising, this amount appears to be both reasonable and fiscally responsible.

6. What is the background surrounding Florida’s Youth Tobacco Control Program?

On August 25, 1997, Florida won a landmark legal victory against the tobacco industry to recover the costs incurred in caring for sick smokers. Then Governor Lawton Chiles and the state Legislature used a portion of the funds generated from this settlement to create the Florida Youth Tobacco Control Program—providing between $37.3 million and $70 million for the program during the following five budget years. Florida’s program was the first in the country to be funded by a court settlement with the tobacco industry, the first to focus solely on young people and the first to have youth as leaders. Despite its proven success in reducing smoking rates among middle and high school students, funding for the program has been drastically cut to $1 million per year by the Florida Legislature during the past three years.

7. If Florida’s Youth Tobacco Control Program proved to be successful when funded at an initial amount of $70 million, is 15 percent of the tobacco settlement fund (approximately $54 million per year) really enough to be effective in reducing youth smoking in Florida?

Actually, the average funding level during the five-year period that Florida’s Youth Tobacco Control Program was funded by the Legislature was $47 million annually. Statistics show that at this funding level, Florida’s tobacco prevention efforts were highly effective. Until the funding was dramatically cut by the Legislature, smoking rates dropped 58 percent among middle school students and 37 percent among high school students. This decline represented more than 128,000 fewer youth smokers and nearly 49,000 fewer premature smoking deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health.

8. What organizations are supporting this initiative?

Recognizing this critical public-health issue and the benefits of such an initiative, the American Cancer Society, Florida Division; American Heart Association, Florida/Puerto Rico Affiliate; American Lung Association of Florida and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids have formally expressed their support of this important effort. Other health groups, child-welfare organizations and medical professionals are expected to become actively involved as well.

9. What is the “citizens’ initiative” process?

A citizen’s initiative provides Florida residents an opportunity to amend the state’s constitution by placing amendments on the ballot and voting on such proposed amendments. There are two primary requirements to place an amendment on the ballot: 1) the state Supreme Court must review and approve the ballot wording to ensure it meets basic requirements and 2) valid signatures must be gathered from at least 8 percent of the total number of Florida residents who voted in the last presidential election and from a representative sampling of Florida counties. (Based on the November 2004 election, this means about 611,000 valid signatures must be gathered. To achieve this, the ballot sponsors have set a goal of 800,000 signatures.) Once the amendment is placed on the ballot, it passes if a simple majority votes in favor of it.

10. Why is Floridians for Tobacco Youth Education, Inc. resorting to a citizen initiative?

Florida’s elected officials have declined to adequately fund this program, despite the fact that more than 80 percent of their constituents want to see this program funded at a substantial level. Short of giving up on the issue of youth tobacco prevention, the initiative process is the only viable strategy for achieving the objective of educating youth against tobacco use, reducing youth smoking and reinstating Florida to its once renowned anti-tobacco efforts.