U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: Massachusetts

Last updated December 04, 2012

  FY2013 FY2012
State Rank 36 35
State Spending on Tobacco Prevention $4.2 million $4.2 million
% of CDC Recommended Spending
($90.0 million)		 4.6% 4.6%

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Massachusetts spend $90.0 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Massachusetts currently allocates $4.2 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 4.6% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Massachusetts 36th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Massachusetts’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 0.5% of the estimated $821 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Background and Recent Developments: Massachusetts launched its program in 1993 with funding from a voter-approved cigarette tax of 25 cents a pack. In December 1999, the legislature voted to supplement the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program (MTCP) cigarette tax funding with tobacco settlement money. By 2002-2003, fiscal emergencies and other factors led to funding cuts that nearly eliminated the program.  Since then, the legislature has increased funding, most notably in FY2008, when funding was increased from $8.25 million to $12.75 million.  However, in FY2010, funding for the program was cut to $4.5 million.  For FY 2013, Governor Patrick proposed $5.9 million be appropriated to the program, however the budget enacted by the legislature appropriated $4.2 million in tobacco control program funding, the same as FY2012.  In total, the MTCP has been cut by more than 65 percent since FY2008.

In addition, Massachusetts is receiving $2.6 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

  • $1.6 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 12-month grant for the period beginning April 2012 (from annual appropriations).

  • $378,699 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law for the period beginning August 1, 2012. 

  • $658,300 from the Food and Drug Administration for enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, including the provision regarding tobacco sales to minors.