Ninety-two percent of respondents in a recent survey agreed that a portion of Hawaiçi’s tobacco settlement monies should be dedicated for programs to reduce smoking among minors and to other quit-smoking programs, the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii said Monday.

“We’ve made great strides by reducing youth smoking from one in four youths to one in 10. However, we need to reach the 1,400 kids who start smoking every year,” Deborah Zysman, the group’s executive director, said in a news release.
The coalition said Hawaiçi spends less than $8 million per year on tobacco-control programs; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Hawaiçi spend $15 million annually.
The coalition hired Qmark Research to conduct the survey. Five hundred Hawaiçi residents were surveyed Dec. 3-12, 2009.