By ALLISON WOOD
Staff Writer

MEDINA — Funding for the county’s tobacco education and cessation services would be lost if the state takes away nearly all the money from the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation endowment fund as part of an economic stimulus package.

“It would be tragic if we stopped it,” said Dr. John Waddell, county tobacco coordinator, about the programs. “Everything is at risk.”

Since 2005, the smoking rate for county residents has declined nearly 5 percent to 14.7 percent from 19.2 percent, Waddell said.

The state tobacco prevention fund was created in 1998 after receiving a massive settlement from tobacco companies and is now worth $270 million. The Medina County Tobacco Prevention Coalition was founded in 2003, Waddell said.

Earlier this month, the state General Assembly voted to take $230 million from the fund to help support programs such as college internships and infrastructure improvements.

The foundation filed a complaint April 9 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to block Treasurer Richard Cordray from liquidating its fund and putting the money in a special jobs fund within the state treasury.

A judge granted a request April 10 to delay transferring the funds until a hearing Thursday.

Along with awarding grants to local organizations, the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation also operates the OhioQuits Line, which provides counseling services and offers free nicotine patches to callers.

One local program receiving money from the prevention fund is STAND. Part of a statewide effort, the program sends students ages 12-24 from all over the county to speak to younger students about not using tobacco, said Carrie Cole, youth tobacco prevention specialist with Solutions Behavioral Healthcare.

The funding cuts also endanger a $946,000, three-year grant the county recently received, said Brian Nowak of the Medina County Drug Abuse Commission.

Grant monies would arrive in July and would expand a program conducted by Medina General Hospital where employers would provide free counseling and cessation services to employees.

Waddell said the classes, which were provided at eight companies throughout the county, helped more than 50 employees quit using tobacco products this year.

The grant would also fund a new program, Project ALERT, a smoking-prevention education class for seventh-grade health classes in the Brunswick, Buckeye, Cloverleaf and Black River school districts, Nowak said.

Those districts were targeted because they have the highest percentage of teenage smokers and tobacco users in the county, he said.

Last year, there was also a special program conducted by Medina General Hospital that was aimed at helping pregnant women quit smoking, he said.

Waddell said he is in the process of creating a nonprofit organization, Medina County Tobacco Prevention Inc., that would allow the county to apply for grants from pharmaceutical companies and other organizations like the Cleveland Foundation.

Statewide, about 400 people, including Waddell and Cole, will lose their jobs because their positions are funded by the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation, Nowak said.

Wood may be reached at 330-721-4050 or allisonwood@ohio.net.