The Health and Wellness Trust Fund's award-winning, and proven effective, teen tobacco prevention ads are back on the air.

Ads are running this Spring on cable television networks throughout the state of North Carolina. The ads running include hard-hitting spit tobacco prevention messages, TRU Road Trip ads and a brand new ad featuring the story of SAVE (Survivors and Victims of Tobacco Empowerment Program) speaker Terrie Hall.

To see ads featuring Spit tobacco cancer survivor Grun von Beherns and Terrie Hall of SAVE, visit: http://www.realityunfiltered.com/tv_radio/tvradio.html.

The next time a parent or community member asks you whether or not tobacco free schools policies are important, share with them the latest information from the 2005 N.C. Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS). Students in established 100 percent Tobacco Free School (TFS) districts are 40 percent less likely to smokers. And parents and adults (90 percent) overwhelmingly support 100 percent TFS (BRFSS and CHAMPS).

• School districts that have adopted and fully implemented for at least three years (n=5), have the lowest student prevalence rates for both current cigarette use (13.3 percent) and any current tobacco use (21.1 percent).
• School districts that did not TFS policy implemented (n=51) as of September 2005 (time of YTS data collection) have the highest prevalence rates for both current cigarette use (22 percent) and any tobacco use (31.2 percent).
• School districts that have implemented TFS since 2003 (n=49) appear to be heading in the right direction (although tobacco use differences are not statistically significant). It may be that districts have not had enough time for the policy to translate to significant behavior change or sustained social norms for the school district.
• Students attending school districts that had fully implemented TFS (established) policies are 40 percent less likely to be a current cigarette smoker compared to students in school districts without TFS policies.
• Students attending school districts that had fully implemented TFS (established) policies are 32 percent less likely to be a current tobacco user (i.e., any 30 day use of cigarettes, cigars, spit tobacco, bidis or kreteks) compared to students in school districts without TFS policies.

 

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I am a teen anti-tobacco advocate from Charlotte and I would like to give a quick review of the new satire "Thank You for Smoking."

I really enjoyed the comedy, and because of my work as an advocate, I found myself laughing at parts while the rest of the theatre was silent. While having a little previous knowledge about tobacco does help you analyze the movie on a deeper level, you don't need to have an extensive knowledge about the tobacco industry in order to understand the comedy. I went with a friend who has never worked in tobacco prevention and she loved it. In fact, she took her father to see it the next day.

This movie could be used as an educational tool for teen advocates. It contains a lot if insight into the world of lobbying and spin. Nick Naylor, the main character, is the leading lobbyist for the tobacco industry. He spend his time talking to the media about how smoking cigarettes is beneficial. Of course, it is important to emphasize that the movie is an exaggeration, but many of the concepts presented in the movie are relevant. Issues such as advertising, health effects, and health education are brought up in the movie and would spark up interesting conversation among your teen groups.

I recommend buying the DVD and showing it to teens because it is a new and interesting way to inform teens about important information pertaining to tobacco. However the movie is rated R so the target audience should be mature teens. I suggest previewing the movie and then skipping the parts that you feel are inappropriate. Overall the movie is hilarious. Be prepared to laugh, even at yourself, as an anti-tobacco advocate. I know I did.

Anna Booth is a ?Y Central teen and Captain of the SWAT Team at Butler High School in Charlotte.

 

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As of June 2006, North Carolina has a total of 74 school systems that have passed "Gold Standard" 100 percent Tobacco Free School (TFS) policies. While all of these victories are important, our recent success in Pitt County is perhaps the sweetest. Eastern North Carolina is known as the "tobacco belt" and Pitt County is very likely the belt buckle. Despite the area's strong tobacco heritage, a farsighted group of school board members and local youth and adult activists successfully advocated for a TFS policy to begin January 1, 2007. Look for even more TFS districts in the next few weeks.

TFS signage orders, which were delayed due to contract bidding requirements, are back on track. Shipping of signage to local school districts resumed at the end of May.

For information, contact Mark.Ezzell@ncmail.net.