A study conducted by the National Cancer Institute found that state-controlled tobacco programs are effective in reducing the number of smokers.

In the 17 states that participated in the $128 million government program, known as American Stop Smoking Intervention Study, to discourage tobacco use, the prevalence of smoking, or the number of people who smoke, dropped nearly a percentage point faster than the rest of the country. The program spent about $1,200 for each smoker who “kicked the habit.”

The study also found that states with stronger tobacco-control policies and a greater ability to implement tobacco-control programs experienced larger reductions in smoking.

Although this may seem like a small percent, the study pointed out that if all 50 states and the District of Columbia had implemented ASSIST, there would now be about 280,000 fewer smokers nationwide.

“Our research emphasizes the importance of strong tobacco control programs and effective policies,” Frances Stillman, first author of the study and director of the ASSIST evaluation, said. “States can reduce smoking prevalence and the enormous health and economic burden of smoking if they put in place proven programs and policies.”

The study evaluated the effects of ASSIST over a period of eight years. During this time, smoking among the entire United States population dropped from 24.67 percent to 22.26 percent. In the participating states, it dropped from 25.19 percent to 22.17 percent. Non-participation state numbers declined from 24.41 percent to 22.3 percent.

“These results are compelling,” Scott Leischow, chief of NCI’s Tobacco Control Research Branch, said. “ASSIST had a small but significant effect on smoking prevalence. As the authors determined, this difference has a large effect when viewed at the population level.

States included in the study were Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

To kick off their study, the anti-smoking project recruited and trained local advocacy groups to lobby for passage of higher cigarette excise taxes and to promote regulations for smoke-free environments. The program also organized a public-relations campaign to counter an estimated $47 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission reports, spent by the tobacco industry to market their products during the study period.

A 2002 national report conducted by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion found that approximately 24 percent of residents smoke in Wisconsin. This rate is one percent higher than the national average. Despite the overall results of participating states in ASSIST, this percent of smokers in Wisconsin has been fairly consistent over the last decade.

Jenny Rohde, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association of Wisconsin, said there is no particular reason for the higher rates, except that more people are smoking.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 440,000 deaths in the United States each year. Smoking has been linked to heart disease, emphysema and other respiratory-system diseases, stroke and a number of different types of cancer.