NEW YORK – States have received billions of dollars collected from tobacco taxes and tobacco firm settlements from the late 1990s earmarked for anti-smoking programs. However, a new study has found that only two states will meet federally recommended tobacco-prevention spending for the 2014 fiscal year, the New York Times reports.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, along with four other groups, predicted that states would receive around $25 billion in tobacco-related revenue during 2014. But the coalition found that states would only shell out $481 million on smoking cessation programs, a dramatic drop from the $750 million devoted to the effort in 2002. The 2014 numbers are also well under the $3.7 billion the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. Only North Dakota and Alaska will meet the target spending advised by the agency.

While the tobacco settlements provided a yearly influx of money, states had leeway to spend the funds, which often were shunted to non-tobacco campaigns. For example, Georgia will use tobacco revenue for its Medicaid program. “When the state had to deal with the budget crisis of the most recent recession, that was a big way they used to shore up Medicaid,” said Timothy Sweeney, who directs health policy at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

While states could use the money in any manner, Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that the settlement’s intent was to promote programs that helped people quit tobacco. “Some of the money has been invested in good things that are non-tobacco, but we think this should be the first priority,” he said. “We feel like it’s our responsibility to try to hold them accountable for what we’d say is misspending the dollars.”