National Kick Butts Day fights teen tobacco use
Jul. 24, 2019
MONROE, La. (KNOE) - People around the country are kicking butts today… Cigarette butts. It's National Kick Butts Day, which is aimed to keep kids away from tobacco products.
Most kids have heard by now what tobacco can do to the body: Heart problems, COPD, lung damage, and the risk of cancer. But experts say that still doesn't get the message through to some teens.
Rachel Mixon from the St. Francis Tobacco Cessation Program says getting through to kids these days is difficult, and they're trying to figure out how they can effectively deliver that message. So Kick Butts Day presents the issue in a more interactive and empowering way.
Mixon says e-cigarettes and Juuls are making things even more difficult. She says as the popularity rises, so does peer pressure, which is why many teens start using these products in the first place.
Mixon also says this younger generation is rebellious, so telling them "no" only increases that temptation more.
"Because young people like to have control and they don't like to be told what they can and can’t do,” she explains. “Sometimes that’s why they get into things like tobacco or alcohol or drugs because they've been told they can't. It's that whole factor of ‘you can't tell me what to do."