Kick Butts Day #iKickButts

More than 400,000 people in the United States will die this year from a tobacco-related disease.

On March 16, Kick Butts Day— iASK Irvington is taking a stand to stop youth from getting hooked on deadly tobacco products. We know that 90% of smokers start using tobacco regularly by the time they are 18. Isn’t this astonishing?

So in order to give kids a fighting chance, we plan to join thousands of students across the country who are taking part in Kick Butts Day, a nationwide initiative that makes students leaders in the effort to stop youth tobacco use. As part of the Kick Butts Day celebration, iASK will share messaging across social media (Twitter & Facebook).

There are many effective ways state and local officials can protect young people from tobacco. They can use funds from the states’ 1998 legal settlement with the tobacco companies to pay for tobacco prevention programs; they can increase tobacco taxes; and they can pass smokefree laws to protect us from secondhand smoke.

Consider these facts: Each day, more than 1,000 kids become new regular smokers; roughly one-third of them will die prematurely from a tobacco-related disease. Today’s youth are not just part of the problem; they’re part of the solution. And the students from Irvington want tobacco companies to know that on Kick Butts Day and every day throughout the year, we’re going to fight them every step of the way!