BARRE – The Vermont Agency of Education today announced a new method of school-based tobacco use prevention grants, by highlighting the significant disparity across the state regarding youth smoking rates.
“When it comes to youth smoking in Vermont, it is truly a good-news, bad-news story,” said Bob Uerz, the Agency’s Tobacco Use Prevention Coordinator. “Overall, we have reduced smoking by youth statewide, but in some regions of the state, almost a quarter of our students identify themselves as smokers.”
Great strides have been made in reducing youth smoking through school and community efforts since 1995, when Vermont’s youth smoking rate was 38%. Today that rate1 is 13%, according to the 2013 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey. However, there are regions of the state wherein this is still is significant challenge, as rates range from a high of 24% to a low of 6% (See List and Map on following pages).