VIEWPOINT | Cutting tobacco prevention funding not a good idea

Guest column by Kevin Jensen, Majority Whip representing District 16

When a South Dakota Department of Health spokeswoman recently said that a proposed 60 percent cut to the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation fund was a reasonable budget adjustment considering the success of the program and subsequent reduction in youth tobacco use, it was easy to take at face value.

As reported in South Dakota News Watch and other sources that ran the piece, Tia Kafka said: “The program has a track record of success, and we have seen a downward trend in tobacco use. As a result, the governor’s budget proposal right-sizes funding of tobacco prevention dollars. Services offered through the QuitLine and tobacco prevention efforts within schools and communities will remain priorities for the program.”

There’s just one problem with that logic: that’s not how tobacco prevention and cessation work. In South Dakota, tobacco use among adults with Medicaid insurance is high at 50 percent. Focusing on just the schools or QuitLine does not serve the other populations in need of education and resources.

I am the chair of the South Dakota Senate Health and Human Services Committee and have worked in the field of prevention in the past as a certified prevention specialist. So, certainly, I am glad to see that numbers are down and that we are making progress in the ongoing fight to keep people from tobacco addiction and, specifically, to keep our kids from a lifetime of problems that come with the use of all tobacco products.

VIEWPOINT | Hospitals using federal drug program as intended