As smoking rates stagnate, tobacco fund dwindles

Cigarette pricing at M&M Beverage in Montpelier. Photo by Roger Crowley/for VTDiggerAfter years of decline, Vermont’s adult smoking rate appears to have stalled and now “lags behind the nation,” advocates say.
At the same time, state investment in tobacco-related programming is shrinking. A tobacco trust fund that once held $31 million now has no money, and only a small portion of the state’s yearly settlement payments from the cigarette industry go toward Vermont&rsq