Maryland is spending less than half the amount recommended by the CDC to deter tobacco use. We must invest more.

Given all the billions of taxes collected from sales of tobacco products, not to mention the billions more provided through a 1998 settlement over the cost of tobacco-related illness, one would think that states like Maryland would fully fund programs that deter young people from using tobacco (or encourage them to quit). Yet a recently-released report from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Lung Association and other health advocacy groups, found most states fall woefully short in this mission. In Maryland, the good news is that the state ranks better than most. The bad news is that its 11th ranking is mostly because so many of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are abysmal.