According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, every day approximately 2,000 people under the age of 18 try their first cigarette. Dependence is almost always started during adolescence when the developing brain is most vulnerable to nicotine addiction.
“That has to change,” says Amy Winter, Director of the Office of Tobacco Control. “The fact is, of those 2,000 youth, the ones that continue to use tobacco will ultimately die from it. This is a huge contributing factor to the more than 480,000 tobacco-related deaths per year in the United States, which could all be prevented.”
Take Down Tobacco Day, a fresh take on Kick Butts Day, is the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ signature platform for empowering people to stand up and speak out against the manipulative practices of the tobacco industry.
It’s a daily effort that culminates every spring with the Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action.
This year’s Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action will be held on April 1, 2022. This year also marks the 27th occurrence of this event, and there have been many important victories since the first Kick Butts Day was held in 1996.
On that day, youth activists, educators, parents, health advocates and concerned citizens come together to organize events that raise awareness of nicotine and tobacco use among youth in their communities. Events also encourage youth to reject the tobacco industry’s deceptive marketing, stay tobacco-free, and urge elected officials to take action to protect kids from the dangers of nicotine and tobacco.
“From cigarettes and cigars to smokeless tobacco and electronic nicotine devices, the tobacco industry peddles a wide range of addictive and dangerous products that put kids at risk across the globe,” said Kathryn ALLMAN, Director of the Mississippi Tobacco-Free Coalition of Choctaw, Montgomery and Webster counites. “Although youth smoking rates are on a downward trend and at an all-time low, skyrocketing youth e-cigarettes rates are reversing that progress. Let’s use our voice to advocate for the first tobacco-free generation.”
For information and resources about the dangers of e-cigarettes and tobacco products visit www.healthyms.com/tobacco.
For help with quitting visit www.quitnow.net/ms, or call the Mississippi Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
