Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action

Written By: Kelsey Sample

Tobacco has been growing wild in America for nearly 8,000 years and despite the risks and dangers of these deadly products, people continue to use them every day.

More than 480,000 people die from tobacco products annually, that’s more than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined! In Iowa, 5,100 people will die each year from their own smoking and 55,000 kids who are now under 18 and alive in Iowa will ultimately die prematurely from smoking. As for chewing tobacco, it is said that 250,000 people will be killed yearly from it.

Another tobacco product that has been on the rise in the past few years is e-cigarettes. The most common and popular e-cigarette is Juul. This e-cigarette has become very popular with high school, middle school, and even upper elementary students. It, among other e-cigarettes, has over 15,000 flavors including some of the most popular one’s cotton candy, strawberry, blue raspberry, bubblegum, and many others. It’s no wonder today’s youth are being entranced into trying this product, these flavors are some of the children’s favorite flavors and are popular candy flavors.  Even with the new law making flavored pods illegal flavored disposable e-cigarettes are still legal and available. 

Tobacco companies didn’t just “accidentally” come up with the idea to make these specific flavors. Older adults may try these flavored tobacco products, but kids are their main targets. All tobacco companies see is the fact that the kids are their “replacement smokers,” and are enticing them to try their products by using flavors to improve the taste, reduce the harshness and make their products more appealing to young beginners, who before they know it will have a life long addiction.

The tobacco industry may try to act as though they aren’t the bad guys by saying “we didn’t force them to try it, they did it themselves”.  Although they aren’t forcing people to try their products, they are sure of making their products seen. The annual tobacco industry marketing expenditures nationwide is $9.1 billion, and the estimated portion spent for Iowa marketing is $102.1 million.

We have been dealing with the pain, agony, and awfulness of this disease known as tobacco for 8,000 years and one of the only things that have changed is the growing increase in tobacco use in youth. It’s well past time for U.S and state lawmakers to put more restrictions and bans on tobacco products, especially the ones that are widely used by our youth. We hope they will stand with us on Take Down Tobacco Day as we the youth fight for the first tobacco-free generation.

Take Down Tobacco, formerly known as Kick Butt’s Day, is a national day of action that empowers students to stand out, speak up and take control against Big Tobacco. On this day students are encouraged to get together and participate in different activities to make people more aware of the impact tobacco/nicotine has on their surrounding area. We hope that you will join us in some way to help fight for a future that is tobacco-free.

For more information on Take Down Tobacco Day or the Van Buren County Youth Leadership Council please contact the SAFE Coalition at 319-293-3334 ext. 1017 or safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org.