Missouri Gets Additional $146M From Tobacco Settlement

Source from:  Kansas City Business Journal Wednesday, April 16, 2008 04/17/2008

Missouri received an additional $146 million from tobacco companies on Tuesday as the state's payment from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. The MSA was a deal struck between leading tobacco companies and state attorneys general who had been suing the companies for years trying to recover government costs associated with people who became ill from smoking or tobacco-related illnesses. With Tuesday's payment to Missouri's coffers, the Show Me State has received nearly $1.4 billion in the past 10 years. The MSA has been criticized in recent years because states haven't used the money for smoking-cessation programs, which was part of the original agreement. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said the state has had little to show for its financing of such programs after recently moving to No. 50 among all states and Washington in financial commitment to the programs. "After many years of being dead last, there's little to brag about that Missouri has moved from 51st to 50th in using its tobacco money on prevention programs," Nixon said in a written statement Wednesday. Missouri will have plenty of time to change its course on devoting money to smoking-prevention programs; payments from the MSA continue forever. Enditem