Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Georgia spend $116.5 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Georgia currently receives $3.2 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation, which includes both state and federal funds.  This is 2.7% of the CDC's recommendation and ranks Georgia 50th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Georgia's spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 0.8% of the estimated $393 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Recent Developments: Georgia places one-third of its tobacco settlement funds in the One-Georgia Fund, established in 2000 to support economic development initiatives, and folds the remaining two-thirds of its payments into the state's general budget process. Settlement funds placed in the Fund have been subdivided into two funds — the EDGE (Economic Development, Growth and Expansion) Fund that helps Georgia communities compete with communities in other states to attract businesses and the Equity Fund that has been used for a variety of projects, including expanding water and sewer systems to support industrial parks, improving tourism and recreation in the state, shrimp and fish aquaculture, and assistance to technical colleges.

For FY2009, Georgia will receive $3.2 million in federal and state funds for tobacco prevention programs, about the same amount that was spent in FY2008.