The Tobacco Prevention and Control Initiated Measure, if passed by the people, will give North Dakota’s public health community the tools necessary to save lives and diminish the toll of tobacco in our state. This measure places new tobacco settlement payments called strategic contribution funds into a tobacco prevention and control trust fund. The tobacco trust fund will be used to initiate and implement a comprehensive tobacco use prevention program, as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

In April 2008, North Dakota received the first of ten annual strategic contribution fund payments. The 2008 payment was about $14 million, and each additional payment is projected to be near this amount, with the final payment in 2017. This measure does not change the allocation of the annual tobacco settlement funds from the N.D. Legislature’s allocation of 45% for the school lands trust fund, 45% for the water development trust fund, and 10% for the community health trust fund. The measure uses NEW tobacco settlement dollars for their original purpose and not ONE penny of tax payer dollars to fully fund tobacco prevention programs. The measure will reduce smoking, save lives and health care costs. 

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