Students at Mableton Elementary School in Cobb County learned about the chemicals used to make cigarettes on Kick Butts Day in 2012.

Saying no to tobacco saves lives, no matter what tools and tactics tobacco companies use to get people hooked on their products. That's the message kids will hear on Kick Butts Day, a national observance encouraging kids and teens to speak out about the dangers of smoking and the methods of tobacco companies.

 

Sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Kick Butts Day falls this year on March 20, and groups in Georgia will join others across the U.S. who are hosting events to raise awareness of the problem of tobacco use in their communities, encourage youth to stay tobacco-free and to urge elected officials to take action to protect youth from tobacco and secondhand smoke.

 

Kimberly Redding, M.D., director of health promotion and disease prevention at the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), said Kick Butts Day is an important opportunity to make young people aware of just how harmful tobacco is to health and the lengths to which tobacco companies go to get young people hooked on smoking or smokeless tobacco.

 

"Adolescents and young adults are uniquely susceptible to social and environmental influences to use tobacco. Advertising and promotional activities by tobacco companies have shown to cause the onset and continuation of smoking among adolescents and young adults," she said.

 

Convincing young Georgians to say no to tobacco is vital to the state's health. In 2011, 23 percent of high school students and 11 percent of middle school students in Georgia reported using some form of tobacco, numbers that have changed little since 2005. About 10 percent of high school students who have ever smoked reported that they tried their first whole cigarette before they were 11 years old.

 

Redding said young people should remember that smoking, smokeless tobacco and secondhand smoke are never safe and can be deadly.

 

"Smoking and the use of any type of tobacco product can lead to heart attacks, strokes and cancers. These diseases can prevent young people from leading an active, fulfilling life," she said.

 

Activities organized around the state for Kick Butts Day aim to keep Georgia's kids from starting to smoke and to convince current smokers to quit. On March 16, youth groups organized by Learn to Grow and the HEART coalition, youth advisory and health advocacy groups, attended the Morehouse Tiger Relays track event at B.T. Harvey Stadium at Morehouse College. The students passed out educational materials about the chemicals found in cigarettes, the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke, and asked attendees to sign pledges to stay tobacco-free.

 

Students at Early County High School will hear and see anti-tobacco commercials in school and on television on Kick Butts Day, sponsored by the Cancer Coalition of South Georgia. The organization will also build an iPledge wall at the school, encouraging students to become or remain tobacco-free. Students can also write postcards to the Early County School Board, urging them to move forward with a vote to make the school district 100 percent tobacco-free.

 

A group of students at Meadowcreek High School in Norcross will be schooling their peers about how tobacco companies target their products to youth and use misinformation to promote tobacco, as well as the dangerous health effects of tobacco. These student educators took part in a tobacco prevention workshop hosted by the Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments in November.

 

Students and public health staff in Cobb County and the counties of the Southeast Health District will pick up cigarette butts around school campuses and local parks to show how big of a problem smoking poses in those communities.

 

The goal is to keep as many young people as possible from picking up a tobacco habit. But DPH also wants to help those who have started quit tobacco for good. Any Georgians ages 13 and older who need help quitting can call the Georgia Tobacco Quit Line (1-877-270-STOP) for free counseling and support in kicking their habits.