Tobacco's heyday long past

Settlement, buyout wiped out crop in So. Md.

Friday, Nov. 28, 2008

That is all a thing of the past 10 years after the signing of the landmark Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which effectively wiped out a crop that once dominated Southern Maryland's agricultural landscape.

"As hard as it was to accept the stark reality that a tobacco buyout would effectively destroy the tobacco auction in Maryland, a lot of farmers were feeling it was coming anyway and felt if we could get some temporary relief to hold on to farming for a couple more years. Hopefully we can transition into other things where our sons and daughters can pick up other crops," said Middleton (D-Charles), who still operates his nearly 300-acre farm.

The major tobacco companies reached an estimated $206 billion settlement in 1998, reimbursing 46 states for smoking-related health-care expenses and imposing advertising restrictions aimed at decreasing the number of youth smokers.

"The smoking rates among youth have declined and that is a huge, huge step forward in that if we can keep kids from initiating smoking then they're not going to become smokers at all," said Bonita M. Pennino, government relations manager for the American Cancer Society's Mid-Atlantic Division.

But some advocates claim that states have not done enough with their settlement payments to combat tobacco use among children and ease the strain tobacco-related health care costs have on Medicare programs.

In the last 10 years, states have spent just 3.2 percent of their total tobacco-generated revenue on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, according to a blistering report titled "A Decade of Broken Promises" compiled by a coalition of public health organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Maryland's annual payment varies, but is slightly more than $170 million in the current fiscal year. The state has received $1.38 billion since the agreement was signed. Revenues are distributed to eight different programs such as cancer screenings and treatment, tobacco cessation, drug addiction and education. More than half of the money goes to Medicaid reimbursement.

Total funding for tobacco prevention programs by the states this year is $718.1 million, less than 20 percent of the $3.7 billion recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maryland will spend $20.6 million on prevention programs in fiscal 2009, which is about one-third the CDC-recommended amount. The state, which ranks 18th among all states, has more than doubled its allocation for tobacco prevention since fiscal 2006.

But tobacco marketing has outpaced prevention funding by a ratio of more than 9-to-1, which public health advocates hope to highlight as they push for more state aid. Tobacco companies spent nearly $200 million on product advertisement in 2005, the most recent year statistics were available.

"The main thing that needs to be done is sufficient funding for a counter-marketing campaign, because the tobacco industry spends millions of dollars in Maryland a year on cigarette advertising of a variety of sorts," said Pennino. "And Maryland is not doing anything to counter that. We're not putting out anti-smoking commercials of any kind. Many of them have been fruitful and proven to work."

Nearly 17 percent of Maryland high-schoolers smoke and 6,800 people die from smoking-related causes each year in Maryland, according to the report. Health care costs attributable to smoking total almost $2 billion.

About 850 Maryland tobacco farmers accepted a buyout in the years following the litigation settlement, figuring that tobacco growing had become less profitable. Those who pledged to halt tobacco production, but stayed in agriculture, were promised compensation for the next 10 years based on the amount of tobacco they had previously raised.

Only a handful of farms in Maryland still grow tobacco today. The annual tobacco auction in Hughesville, once a staple of Southern Maryland's rural fabric, ended in 2005, when the annual crop dwindled to only 300,000 pounds.

Maryland Farm Bureau President W. Michael "Mike" Phipps declined to participate in the buyout because he disagreed with the government intervention, but has significantly scaled back his tobacco production.

"It should be freedom of choice in the production of any agricultural product and the market would dictate whether you stay in or get out," he said.

The decline of tobacco has been a mixed bag for Maryland farmers, said Phipps, a Calvert County farmer who now raises mostly cattle, hay, corn and sweet potatoes on his 100-acre farm and his grandparents' 60-acre plot nearby.

While he acknowledged there may be public health benefits, agricultural revenues have sharply declined since tobacco was driven out and some historic tobacco barns have fallen into disrepair. Most of all, the lack of a signature crop to replace tobacco has led some farmers to sell their land to developers. "If the money crop isn't there, it's easier to throw one's hands up and take an offer," Phipps said.

But Pennino believes farmers received fair compensation and the decline in young smokers has paid off.

"Although they may no longer be bringing in as much money as they were, they've got to have some good feeling about no longer producing a product that kills people," she said. "You can't put a price on a person's life and I know this had been their livelihood, but now that the science is here, I think many of them were happy to take the buyout because they recognized the harms that their crops were causing in society."

Maryland's cigarette tax doubled to $2 a pack last year, but none of the new money was earmarked for tobacco prevention. Advocates are calling for a further cigarette tax increase with a portion of the money dedicated to prevention and cessation programs.

But with the state facing a potential $1 billion deficit in fiscal 2010, there is little money to spare for such programs.

Still, Middleton believes Maryland must be aggressive in protecting the public health and preserving the state's fading farmland from development.

"I think with the investment that we've made and hopefully with continued investment, there will be a future in agriculture for our kids," he said.

abrody@somdnews.com