RALEIGH -- It's been 15 years since the landmark 1998 state tobacco settlement, and a new report finds that states are continuing to shortchange tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Chris Hansen- President of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network- says the Tar Heel state is pulling up the rear.

Hanses added, "North Carolina ranks 45th, out of all the states, in the kinds of funding programs that they have had to prevent kids from smoking and to help smokers quit."

Hansen says the youth smoking rate in the state is about 16 percent and the adult smoking rate is about 21 percent.