Dear Editor: Is that the New Jersey portion of the national tobacco settlement going up in smoke? As president of the American Heart Association and as a New Jersey cardiologist, I’m extremely disappointed in New Jersey’s proposed budget plan for the appropriation of the tobacco settlement money. Recommendations from members of the public health community, such as the American Heart Association, the state’s leading tobacco control coalition — New Jersey Breathes, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have essentially been ignored. Tobacco settlement money should be used to fix tobacco ills. What is the point of reparations from the tobacco industry if New Jersey is not going to make a sincere effort to reduce tobacco’s financial toll and death toll now and in the future? On one hand, it’s good that New Jersey will at last be able to use tobacco settlement dollars, but the $30 million proposed for tobacco control programs in the proposed 2001 and 2002 fiscal year budgets is wholly inadequate. The $30 million represents only 10 percent of New Jersey’s annual payment. As a member of New Jersey Breathes, the American Heart Association urges New Jersey to increase in the proposed 2001 and 2002 budgets the amount of money to be allocated to a comprehensive New Jersey tobacco control program encompassing education, control, prevention and counter-advertising. At minimum 25 percent of the average annual payment New Jersey receives should be allocated to a comprehensive tobacco control program. Initial reports are that between $6 and $7 million of the $30 million for anti-smoking programs will be available for counter-advertising media campaigns. The amount of money designated for a comprehensive, sustained counter-advertising media campaign also needs to be significantly increased. For perspective, the tobacco industry annually spends nearly $150 million on tobacco advertising in New Jersey alone. The CDC has recommended that New Jersey spend between $8 and $24 million annually on counter-advertising. The tobacco industry has marketed disease and death for decades to New Jersey kids. Nearly 13,000 New Jersey lives are lost each year to the addiction and death caused by tobacco use. The only way to break the deadly cycle of tobacco use is to adequately fund a comprehensive New Jersey tobacco control program. The future is now. I urge New Jersey to allocate a minimum 25 percent of the annual tobacco settlement payment for a comprehensive New Jersey program. Charles A. Dennis, M.D. President, American Heart Association Chairman, Department of Cardiology Deborah Heart and Lung Center