According to a new study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, the number of teen smokers in America would be greatly reduced if state spending on tobacco control followed levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers from Bridging the Gap, a policy research program based at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Michigan, found "clear evidence" of a direct relationship between what states invest in to discourage tobacco use and the percentage of youth who smoke as well as the intensity of their smoking habits. The study emphasized that while state-level investments in smoking cessation programs had risen to $861.9 million in 2002, spending in almost all states remained well below the minimum amount the CDC believes is needed to support a "comprehensive and effective" program. By comparison, the Federal Trade Commission reports that in 2002 U.S. tobacco companies spent $12.47 billion to market cigarettes and promote smoking, more than fourteen times what states spent in total in the same year to discourage smoking.

"If states had spent just the minimum amount recommended by CDC, youth smoking nationally would have been between 3 percent and 14 percent lower than was observed during the ten year period that we examined," said John Tauras, a UIC economist and the study's lead author. "Furthermore, with so many states now making big cuts in tobacco control as a way of dealing with budget shortfalls, what our study predicts is that a substantial decrease in funding will lead to a significant increase in adolescent smoking."