Anti-smoking advocates in North Dakota are awaiting formal certification of a November ballot initiative that would authorize an $18.6 million statewide campaign to discourage use of all forms of tobacco, the Associated Press reported July 29.

Supporters of the initiative have submitted 22 percent more than the 12,844 signatures of registered voters that are needed to place the item on the November ballot. The campaign would be financed partly from income derived from the state's share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement.

The $18.6 million figure, covering a two-year period, is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) recommendation of what the state should be spending for an effective tobacco prevention strategy. North Dakota currently has $6.23 million in state funds available for tobacco spending, just over the average of $5.5 million that the state has spent every two years since 2001-2003.

The state's current formula for allocating tobacco settlement monies sets aside only 10 percent of the settlement total for community health initiatives, with equal shares of 45 percent devoted to education and water projects.

Former State Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp, who helped negotiate the tobacco settlement back in the late 1990s and is now chairing the initiative campaign, expressed optimism over the measure because of an enthusiastic reaction from citizens who signed the ballot petition. "People were just more than willing to sign," she said.

If approved, the initiative would establish a nine-member board that would oversee development of a comprehensive program to limit use of cigarettes, chewing tobacco and other tobacco products.