Tuesday, March 16 – Half Full

By nature, I think the glass is half full.

But in Annapolis, I don’t take that for granted.

Ten years ago, I sponsored the bill creating a special fund for the money Maryland received from its legal settlement with the tobacco industry.

We targeted this money to address the health problems caused by tobacco use: preventing kids from starting to smoke, helping adults to break their addiction, and research and treatment for the diseases attributable to tobacco.

For example, a $250,000 grant to a young researcher at Johns Hopkins in 2004 was the starting point for a blood test that now monitors tumors in cancer patients.

However, the fiscal crisis has resulted in the cigarette money being siphoned off to other uses.

So I introduced a bill to redirect that money to my original priorities.

At the end of today's hearing on my bill, the committee chairman said that since there were a lot of unmet health needs, it was time to take a look at how we spend this money in the future. He told the committee there would be a summer study.

I’m already following up to make sure that the glass is flowing over at the conclusion of that study.