Kick Butts day aims to keep kids away from tobacco
Abbie Miller said she is looking forward to helping students avoid using tobacco by her participation in Kick Butts Day on Wednesday. The Hilldale eighth-grader is a member of Students Working Against Tobacco, an organization holding a variety of anti-tobacco events that day.
Event organizers estimate that a minimum of 300 to 500 students in several area schools will hear the Kick Butts Day message.
Miller said she and the other SWAT students believe they can either stop teens from using tobacco or quit if they have begun. The Hilldale group plans two public awareness actions.
“We’re going to make table tents with information on them about why they shouldn’t smoke,” Miller said. “We’ll put them on the tables in the cafeteria. They’ll have statistics and messages like ‘Don’t Smoke’ and pictures and stuff. We’ll make 128 table tents.”
Miller said her group will also hand make 50 posters with similar health warnings to be placed throughout the school. She said it’s important to hold this type of event for children at the middle-school level.
“This is so kids can make a choice not to smoke,” she said. “It’s better for everyone if they don’t smoke or do tobacco. I hope they understand that they shouldn’t give in to peer pressure, and that tobacco is really, really bad for you.”
Tricia Wall, SWAT coordinator for Muskogee and Wagoner counties, said it’s important to have teens involved in this type of event.
“They’re the main target of the tobacco industry, in their effort to replace those (customers) who are dying,” Wall said. “We lose 1,200 people every day to tobacco-related illnesses and diseases, and so they’re targeting the teenagers to be able to replace those people as far as customers and to keep their revenue flowing.”
Wall said, according to the Oklahoma State Health Department, 6,200 kids under the age of 18 become new smokers every day. This doesn’t include the 216,000 kids who are subject to secondhand smoke, which causes more than 5 million deaths worldwide each year.
Wall said participating schools are spread across the county and city.
Reach Keith Purtell at (918) 684-2925 or kpurtell @muskogeephoenix.com.
To learn more
• Information about events in Oklahoma or Kick Butts Day, visit www.StopsWithMe.com www.kickbuttsday.org. For information about Muskogee Against Tobacco, call Jane Jones at (918) 683-0321.
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http://muskogeephoenix.com/local/x449499585/Kick-Butts-day-aims-to-keep-kids-away-from-tobacco
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