Tobacco industry activity Indiana

The tobacco industry outspends public health at a ratio of 44 to one in Indiana. For every dollar Indiana allocates to reducing use of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco within the state, the tobacco industry spends $44 counteracting this message, according to Stephen J. Jay, a professor of medicine and public health at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Tobacco advertising expenditures vs. Tobacco prevention funding in Indiana
In 2005, tobacco advertising expenditures in Indiana reached a record high at $475 million. In contrast, the state budget for preventing underage smoking and helping adults quit was cut to $10.8 million, which represents a 70 percent reduction from the amount budgeted for prevention and cessation 2002. The budget for smoking prevention in Indiana comes from funds provided to the state through the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, which allocated $4.5 billion over 20 years to Indiana. The state has used only a small fraction of that money for tobacco control programs, though, while the tobacco industry has ramped up advertising efforts in the state. In Indiana, the rate of smoking in the 18-24 age group went up from 28 percent in 2004 to 39 percent in 2005. Eric Wright, director of health policy in the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, says that a $7.50 tax per pack would be needed to cover the health care costs that Indiana incurs for every pack of cigarettes smoked in the state.

Tobacco Institute activity in Indiana
In 1981, Pamela Jones, Assistant to the President of the Tobacco Institute, gave a talk to the Indiana Tobacco-Candy Distributors and Vendors, telling participants that the Institute was fighting clean indoor air laws as "discrimination" and urging them to engaged in local surveillance and report to the Institute any news stories or editorials that were critical of the industry, or any local activity to enact a clean indoor air law, so the Institute could fight it.

Related SourceWatch resources

 * Tobacco industry

External resources
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: search_term=Indiana confidential