OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Attorney General Drew Edmondson wants the state tobacco trust's board of directors to help fund a cancer research and treatment center at the University of Oklahoma.
Edmondson called for a $100 million, 20-year commitment to the OU Cancer Institute in a letter to the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.
The attorney general proposed creation of the constitutionally-protected trust 10 years ago to manage funds from the more than $200 billion tobacco settlement agreement that he helped negotiate.
Edmondson says funding a cancer research and treatment center easily falls within the board's mandate. He says the OU Cancer Institute estimates that Oklahomans spend about $1.5 billion each year seeking cancer treatment outside the state.
Edmondson is a Democratic candidate for governor.
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