Members of St. Lawrence County Reality Check visited with Senator Patty Ritchie Tuesday in Albany to discuss their local anti-tobacco successes. From left are Alyssa Jock, Shauna Rickett, Senator Ritchie, Shelby Adams, Katie Loffler, Jennifer Snyder, and Fayeanne West.

Reality Check of St. Lawrence County and the Heuvelton Leos were in Albany Tuesday to speak with state lawmakers about programs, many funded by the state, that reduce the burden caused by tobacco and to save lives and state tax dollars.

New York State has raised over $10.5 billion in tobacco revenues over the past six years, yet funding for the tobacco control never approached the levels recommended by experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. Over the past three years, the New York State Department of Health’s Tobacco Control Program (NYTCP) budget has been cut in half. In the current fiscal year, New York will spend two cents of every dollar it receives in tobacco revenue on tobacco control. Last week, Governor Cuomo proposed a further $5 million cut in the program’s budget, according to Reality Check.

Melanie Flack, county Reality Check Coordinator, said, “Reality Check coordinates with community members, parent groups, local business and several school districts to provide community level programming. It is a program that reaches a large population with their message and activities.”

“Reality Check works hard to change how youth and adults see the tobacco industry. If we can make one store take a stand against the tobacco industry marketing to youth or one parent group contact Hollywood to demand a change in their rating system, then that is where the change begins. And teens won’t start smoking.” said St. Lawrence County Reality Check members Shauna Rickett.