Gov. Chris Christie's war on opioid abuse would have a better chance to succeed if it addressed tobacco use as well.
By Marco Navarro
For the fifth consecutive year, New Jersey will spend nothing to prevent children and teens from smoking or help them to quit, despite receiving $944.5 million from a 1998 landmark settlement with tobacco companies.
Gov. Chris Christie's dedication to combating the state's opioid epidemic is commendable. Like the rest of the nation, New Jersey is struggling against skyrocketing rates of opioid use. In 2015, 918 New Jerseyans died from heroin use.
But that's no reason to ignore the continued impact of tobacco use, which kills 11,800 people a year in New Jersey and costs the state more than $4 billion a year for health care alone.
In a recent report released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, New Jersey ranked last among states (tied with Connecticut) for its efforts to prevent tobacco use, with no money allocated for it.
Meanwhile, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids estimates that tobacco companies will spend $177.6 million on marketing in New Jersey this year.
By spending nothing on tobacco prevention, New Jersey imperils the health of children and families, potentially putting them on the path to a lifetime of sickness and premature death.
N.J. deserves F for lack of effort to stop habit | Editorial
State officials contend that tobacco use simply isn't the pressing public health problem that it used to be, especially when compared to the growing scourge of opioid addiction. And it's true that smoking rates have been on the decline nationally.
Today, in New Jersey the smoking rate for adults is 13.5 percent and 8.2 percent for teens, well below national averages.
Without question, that's great progress. But smoking still kills.
And in fact, Christie's war on opioid abuse would have a better chance to succeed if it addressed tobacco use as well.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than two-thirds of people who abuse drugs also smoke cigarettes, and among smokers the craving for nicotine appears to increase the craving for illicit drugs. This suggests that smokers in drug treatment programs are less likely than nonsmokers to succeed in staying off drugs.
This doesn't have to be an either/or proposition -- and it shouldn't be.
Building a Culture of Health in New Jersey, where everyone has an opportunity to live the healthiest life possible, means creating and strengthening people's choices for good health across the board.
A teenager who avoids opioid use but takes up smoking is still at high risk for poor health and early death down the road.
We can stop that from happening. Tobacco prevention programs save lives -- and money. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the state spend $103.3 million on tobacco prevention this year.
It's time for New Jersey to shake off its complacency to the continued dangers of smoking. Doing nothing is doing harm. We owe our kids better than that.
Marco Navarro is senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.