Board Allocates Money To Anti-Smoking Campaigns

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ About $3 million will be spent in the next year in a media campaign to help Oklahomans stop -- or never start -- smoking. <br/><br/>The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust board voted

Saturday, September 8th 2007, 6:49 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ About $3 million will be spent in the next year in a media campaign to help Oklahomans stop -- or never start -- smoking.

The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust board voted to spend the money on anti-smoking campaigns such as the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline. Officials say the helpline is a free telephone service that's already helped 120 Oklahomans kick the tobacco habit in the past four years.

The marketing campaign is to begin in January.

The trust has a budget of more than $13 million with one-and-a-quarter million from the state Health Department. The rest comes from interest from the tobacco settlement endowment.

The endowment was created after the 1998 tobacco settlement in which big tobacco companies agreed to give money to the states to help pay expenses associated with smoking.