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Twenty-one community coalitions have been awarded $313,617 in grants to combat tobacco use.The grants were provided by the state's Tobacco Control Program. The money will be used for tobacco control activities targeted to specific local needs.The grants are funded by Initiated Measure 2, passed by voters in 2006, which increased the tax on tobacco products and allocated $5 million to the Department of Health for tobacco prevention and control.
Coalitions in Sioux Falls, Brandon, Brookings, Yankton, Mitchell and Canton were among the groups to receive grants.

The Iowa Department of Public Health hopes to capitalize on the surprising number of smokers who vow to drop the habit on New Year’s Day. 
Those who commit to their resolution – and anyone else who calls the department’s “Quitline” – get a free four-week supply of nicotine patches, gum or lozenges until Jan. 31 as part of the department’s outreach to smokers. That’s double the amount the department offers the rest of the year. 
“We always get more calls in January, even without the extra patch benefit,” said Bonnie Mapes, who leads the state’s tobacco use prevention effort. “We know if we provide these services in January, we’re more likely to get more people.”
It’s a tactic the Department of Public Health’s Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control used last year from New Year’s Day until Feb. 28. Due to a tighter budget this year, the division is only offering it for a month. 
Iowa ranks 29th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in its rate of adult smoking, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Iowa’s adult smoking rate was 18.8 percent in 2008. That’s down from 19.8 percent in 2007.
The CDC counts smokers as those who have reported ever smoking at least 100 cigarettes and who currently smoke every day or on some days. In 2008, the lowest was Utah with 9.2 percent, and the highest was in West Virginia, at 26.6 percent.
Quitline Iowa, established in January 2008, received its highest volume of calls in its first month of service – more than 6,000 in all. Its second-highest total was in January 2009, when more than 3,700 people called. Callers get free nicotine medication, and are also offered counseling services. 
Through the University of Northern Iowa, the Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control tracks the success rate of those who quit after six months and a year. Mapes said that those who try to quit “cold turkey” succeed about 5 percent of the time, while those who use medication and counseling have a 20 percent success rate.
In its pitch to get Iowans off cigarettes, the division is highlighting the financial benefits of dropping the habit. A release from the Department of Public Health estimates that after a month of not buying cigarettes at $5.18 per pack, “most smokers will have saved enough to buy a Blu-ray disc player or 60 gallons of gas.”
“People’s finances are on the tips of their tongues right now, and their long-term health may not be,” said Quitline Iowa coordinator Jeremy Whitaker. “When about 5 percent of your take home pay is spent on cigarettes, it’s a big piece and it adds up pretty quickly.”
Whitaker said it may be fashionable to appeal to people’s wallets now, but most people still quit for health reasons.
Smoking in Iowa is costlier and less convenient, thanks to several factors: a federal tax increase of 62 cents a pack this year that led manufacturers to raise their prices; a $1-per-pack increase in the state cigarette tax in 2007; and a statewide smoking ban in 2008. 
The Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control is also working on its outreach. Whitaker said internal estimates show about 52 percent of smokers in Iowa have heard of the Quitline. 
Ultimately, Whitaker said the goal is to get people aware, but not necessarily to get more callers. 
“Our audience is shrinking, so that’s a good thing,” Whitaker said. “As adult smoking decreases, we’re going to have fewer calls and that’s OK.”

 Gov. Mark Parkinson will propose increasing Kansas' tobacco taxes next year, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The Democratic governor's plan is likely to face strong opposition in the Republican-controlled Legislature, although the Senate's top leader said he'd support the idea.
Parkinson spokeswoman Beth Martino said the governor hasn't settled on how much of an increase he'll propose. But she hinted that he's considering asking legislators to bring Kansas' cigarette tax up to the national average.
Kansas' cigarette tax is 79 cents a pack. The national average for states and the District of Columbia is $1.34 a pack, according to the Washington-based group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"He is going to pursue a tobacco tax of some sort," Martino said. "He is still looking at the options."
Martino said Parkinson has not decided whether to ask legislators to dedicate the new revenues to health programs, or use it to help the state balance its budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1.
Legislative researchers estimate that increasing the cigarette tax by 55 cents, to $1.34 a pack, would raise about $88 million during the next fiscal year. The state also imposes a 10 percent tax on other tobacco products, but doubling it would raise only $5 million during the next fiscal year.
Parkinson said last week that he's not planning to propose deeper cuts in spending to avoid a budget deficit for fiscal 2011. The state has had five rounds of cuts and other adjustments to keep the budget balanced for the current fiscal year.
He said he's considering proposals to eliminate exemptions to the state's sales tax and eliminate tax breaks granted in previous years. And he didn't rule out raising some tax rates.
Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican, said a cigarette tax increase would have the best chance of any proposal to raise tax rates.
"I would support it," Morris said. "I think it's probably the only tax increase that would have the possibility of getting through the Legislature."
But many GOP legislators, particularly House conservatives, worry any revenue-raising measures will slow the state's economic recovery and hurt struggling families.
House Taxation Committee Chairman Richard Carlson, a St. Marys Republican, said states typically raise taxes near the end of recessions — only to see revenues boom upon recovery.
"I'm going to be very cautious about looking at tax increases," Carlson said. "I think Kansas will grow out of this recession. We just need to look at it in the long-term."
Merchants also worry about losing business to other states. While Colorado and Oklahoma have higher cigarette taxes, Nebraska's is lower, and Missouri's, at 17 cents a pack, is second-lowest in the nation, behind only South Carolina.
Public health advocates have long argued that Kansans will support higher tobacco taxes if the money is used for health care programs.
But in 2002, when legislators boosted the cigarette tax from 24 cents, they did it to help close a budget shortfall. When then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius outlined a plan in 2004 to raise tobacco taxes for health care, legislators ignored the proposal for several years.