Youth Prevention
Publications Available
Youth
Beware [PDF Document]
Become
a Youth Coalition Member [PDF Document]
City
of Colorado Springs Cigarette Vending Machine
Ordinance (95-84) [PDF Document]
Media
Cigarette advertisements are designed to make people
think that smoking is cool and that everybody does
it. These misleading ads increase the risk of smoking
by youth. The tobacco industry spends almost $8 billion
a year, over $18 million a day, to market its products,
much of it aimed at young people. In Colorado alone,
the tobacco industry spends $126 million on advertising
to attract new smokers and to keep Coloradoans smoking.
 Eighty-six
percent of youth smokers prefer Marlboro, Camel and
Newport - the three most heavily advertised brands.
Marlboro, the most heavily advertised brand, holds
55 percent of the youth market.
A study published in the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute found that teens are more likely
to be influenced to smoke by cigarette advertising
than they are by peer pressure.
To learn more about how the tobacco industry targets
you, contact TEPP at 578-3256. If
interested, you can form your own anti-tobacco youth
coalition at your school. The focus of a youth
coalition is not tobacco education,
but rather to teach youth how to FIGHT the Tobacco
Industry. The coalitions focus on:
- Knowledge about marketing in the tobacco industry
and tobacco products;
- Motivation to use our knowledge and assert control
in our community and schools;
- Power to smash the myths, lies and deceptions
that the tobacco industry feeds us!
To learn more about the youth coalition or other
opportunities, contact the youth prevention
specialist or e-mail
tepp@epchealth.org
Refusal Skills
It is important to remember that the majority of
youth DO NOT SMOKE. Seven out of ten youth don't use
tobacco products. However , if you are asked by a
peer to smoke, it is important to know ways to say
"no" to tobacco products. The following are some basic
skills and examples to use:
- Be Assertive! Refusing assertively is the best
way to respond to pressure. When you respond to
someone who has asked you to chew or smoke tobacco,
be confident, certain, sure and calm. Don't be afraid
to stand up for yourself!
We gathered a group of local teens and asked them
how they had refused cigarette offers. Here is what
a group said.
- "No thanks, I don't like the way it smells," says
John from Doherty High School.
- "I just look the person in the eye, and say nicely,
" I don't want to get yellow teeth and wrinkles
from smoking"," says Kim from Eagleview Middle School.
- "No thanks, I don't want to put all those chemicals
in my body" says Meredith from Mitchell High School.
Reasons Not to Smoke
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At about $3 a pack, your
monthly cost of smoking a pack a day is just under
$90. That's a $1000-a-year habit and money that
could be spent on something that doesn't kill
you! |
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Smoking turns your teeth
and fingernails yellow, makes your hair, clothes
and breath smell gross and causes premature wrinkling
of your skin. |
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With every puff on a cigarette,
you breathe in 4,700 chemicals including ammonia
(a poisonous gas and a powerful toilet bowl cleaner),
arsenic (a potent rat poison), formaldehyde (used
to preserve dead frogs), and many more toxic chemicals.
Disgusting, but true! |
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Smoking also limits the
amount of oxygen in your blood, reducing your
stamina for sports and other physical activity.
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