Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that New Mexico spend $23.4 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  New Mexico currently receives $10.5 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation, which includes both state and federal funds.  This is 44.9% of the CDC's recommendation and ranks New Mexico 11th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  New Mexico's spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 9.7% of the estimated $108 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Recent Developments: New Mexico's tobacco settlement funds are governed by a law passed in 2000 by the Legislature and signed by Governor Gary E. Johnson (R) that placed 50 percent of the state's tobacco settlement payments in a permanent trust fund, and allowed the other half to be placed into a tobacco settlement program fund to be spent on a variety of health-related programs appropriated through the state's annual budget process.

State and federal spending on tobacco prevention for FY2009 will be $10.5 million, about the same amount that was spent in FY2008, but an increase from what was spent on the program in previous years.  The increase includes a $500,000 appropriation to the Department of Indian Affairs for commercial tobacco prevention and control programs serving Native Americans.