Phil AmmannEvery now and then, who doesn’t want to kick some butts to the curb?
On March 16, the Florida Tobacco Cessation Alliance will be participating in the 20th annual Kick Butts Day, which gives everyone an ideal opportunity to tell the world how and why you fight tobacco. Kick Butts Day is an annual event sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids that encourages kids and their peers to stay tobacco-free and to stop the marketing of tobacco to youth.
Youth around the world have been standing up to Big Tobacco since 1996, doing everything they can to make the next generation tobacco-free. But now, it’s time for parents and other adults to follow the kids’ lead by breaking the deadly addiction to tobacco.
Smoking costs the U.S. more than $300 billion each year, harming almost every organ in the body and causing cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory illness, and other health problems. The federal Centers for Disease Control gives Florida a poor rating when it comes to how much the state allocates for comprehensive tobacco control activities – just one-third of the CDC-recommended level.
Each day around the country more than 3,200 people under age 18 smoke their first cigarette. Even though this number is decreasing significantly in recent years, tobacco is still the leading cause of preventable deaths in Florida and the United States.
Getting involved in Kick Butts Day is a great way to begin getting involved. This year the effort is incorporating a comprehensive social media campaign to engage as many people as possible. The plan is to tie together a powerful message with compelling individual stories, and then deliver them to the relevant legislators and the tobacco industry.
The easiest way for individuals to participate in Kick Butts Day is through the social media campaign. All you have to do is take a picture showing how or why you “kick butts,” and then share the photo and a description on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram using the hashtag #iKickButts.
The Florida Tobacco Cessation Alliance works to raise awareness that tobacco addiction is a chronic, relapsing medical condition, not just a habit or personal choice, and to advocate for the adoption of comprehensive cessation resources for all tobacco users statewide. For more information about the Alliance and to find resources to help you quit, visit http://ftcalliance.com. Help us kick some butts to the curb!
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Kari Jacoby is the Health Promotions Manager for the American Lung Association in Florida. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
