Bucking trend, cigarette sales rise in state

Cigarette sales in Massachusetts increased 3.2 percent last year even as usage continued to decline nationally, according to a report being released today that provides new evidence the state is losing ground in its battle against tobacco.

The study from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a national advocacy organization, found that on average Massachusetts residents purchased 44.1 packs of cigarettes in 2006, up from 42.7 packs in 2005. It was only the second time since 1990 that sales increased year to year in the state.

Nationally, cigarette sales remain substantially higher than in Massachusetts, but usage has dropped steadily across the country since 1990, reaching a low of 61.1 packs last year.

Matthew Myers, president of the advocacy group, is scheduled to meet with Governor Deval Patrick this morning to press the case for restoring millions of dollars eliminated in recent years from the state's tobacco control program.

Myers, other antismoking campaigners, and spokesmen for tobacco companies found themselves in unusual territory yesterday: They all agreed that the increase in cigarette sales was a result of the elimination of landmark advertising campaigns and other measures designed to curb smoking. The budget reductions happened during the administrations of Republicans Jane Swift and Mitt Romney.

"The new data is more than a wake-up call; it's an alarm bell," Myers said by phone yesterday as he waited to board a flight to Boston. "The impact of the cut in the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program is real and will have long-term consequences if not immediately reversed."

During the Swift and Romney administrations, the tobacco control budget plummeted from a high of $54.3 million during the 2000 budget year to a low of $2.5 million in 2004.

Patrick's budget plan calls for spending $16 million on tobacco control, doubling the amount currently spent. Still, advocates said, the need is much greater than the resources.

"We have removed from the equation the ways of getting people to quit smoking, while in the tobacco industry, it's business as usual," said Greg Connolly, a Harvard School of Public Health professor who formerly ran the state's tobacco control initiative.

Connolly and another leading tobacco control specialist, Dr. Michael Siegel of Boston University, described the study as a reliable snapshot of tobacco-use trends. The report relies on data generated by consultants whose work is underwritten by the tobacco industry.

"This is really solid stuff," said Siegel, who has used the per-capita tobacco sales figures in his own research. "This is really strong evidence that shows there's a direct relationship between funding for state tobacco-control efforts and cigarette consumption."

Roughly 18 percent of Massachusetts adults smoke, compared with 21 percent nationwide.

Siegel and other specialists said it was likely that the increase in sales stems both from long-term users smoking more cigarettes, as well as adults and teens picking up the habit. Today's report finds that nearly a decade-long decline in cigarette use among teens began stagnating in 2003, at roughly the same time the state pulled from the airwaves graphic advertisements that described the life-threatening consequences of cigarette use.

Representatives of the nation's two largest cigarette makers, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris, said in interviews yesterday that they were not aware of efforts by tobacco firms to target smokers in Massachusetts.

The tobacco company officials, as well as advocates such as Connolly, were sharply critical of Massachusetts and other states for reneging on their promise to commit annual payments from a landmark legal settlement to the cause of tobacco control. The agreement, reached in the late 1990s, requires tobacco firms to pay states billions of dollars as part of a settlement that ended litigation filed by the states.

But in many cash-strapped states, including Massachusetts, much of the money has been used to cover other services.

John Auerbach, the state's new public health commissioner, described the report as disturbing and pledged to reinvigorate tobacco control measures.

Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com.