Anti-Smoking Campaign Will Target 17 States : Health: Federal agency will provide $115 million for community programs. The goal is to cut the number of adult tobacco users to 15% from 28%.

Federal health officials on Friday announced a national anti-smoking program in 17 states, saying that it will help those states counter the “sinister marketing strategies” of tobacco companies.

Health departments in the selected states will receive a total of $115 million over seven years for community-based coalitions to target population groups that are most likely to smoke and to apply proven anti-smoking strategies, including school programs.

The program will also inform public officials about health policies that combat smoking, such as restricting tobacco promotions, raising taxes on cigarettes and limiting minors’ access to cigarettes.

Federal officials called this activity “education,” but the Tobacco Institute said it is lobbying. “What this will do is provide grass-root activists with federal tax dollars to promote their views,” said Brennan Dawson, a Tobacco Institute spokeswoman.

The 17 states are Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The program will emphasize the development of community-based coalitions because “ultimately it will be our communities and individuals who decide how best to tackle their tobacco problems,” Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan said.

It “will empower them by providing the information and help that they need to change attitudes about smoking and to counter the sinister marketing strategies of the tobacco industry,” Sullivan said.

About 28% of American adults smoke. The project’s major goal is to reduce that to 15% by the turn of the century.

Officials said they believe the project will help about 4.5 million adults stop smoking, prevent about 2 million young people from starting and save 1.2 million people from dying prematurely from smoking-related ailments.

The program is called American Stop Smoking Intervention Study, or ASSIST. It is a collaborative effort between the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society.