Connecticut, the richest state in the U.S., ranks last in spending on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, a situation a local cardiologist called "a disgrace," the New York Times reported Jan. 1.

Connecticut has the highest median family income in the country, but this year plans to spend no new funds from its $140-million share of the nationwide tobacco settlement on tobacco prevention programs. As a result, said Stamford cardiologist Edward H. Schuster, "People who could have been saved will continue to smoke and die from lung disease and cancer, and kids who might not have started smoking will start smoking and will cost us billions of dollars of medical care in the future."

Connecticut ranked dead last in a study of state antismoking spending from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the state should be spending at least $21 million annually to prevent smoking and encourage current smokers to quit. Neighboring New York spent $85 million last year, while New Jersey spend $11 million, although neither was among the three states that actually met or surpassed the CDC standards.

Over the 25-year course of the tobacco settlement, Connecticut can expect to receive at least $3.6 billion. So far, the state has reaped about $1 billion from the settlement but spend less than 1 percent of that to stop smoking. Meanwhile, smoking-related health costs are estimated at about $1.63 billion annually.

Ironically, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was one of the chief architects of the settlement between the states and the tobacco industry. "What is beyond question is that Connecticut has essentially failed in its obligation and opportunity to use money from the tobacco settlement to fight tobacco," Blumenthal said. "We should be embarrassed and outraged by this evidence of our moral and social failure."