Youth Breathe Easy (BE) Teams Prepare to Reduce the Toll of Tobacco in Jefferson County

Did you know that nearly 9 out of 10 people who use tobacco start by the time they graduate from high school? Tobacco use is an epidemic and remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, and youth in Jefferson County are working to change this by preparing for a year of coordinated efforts to reduce the toll of tobacco in their schools and communities.

Breathe Easy (BE) teams are clubs that exist in five Jefferson County High Schools including Golden, Jefferson, Lakewood, Ralston Valley and Wheat Ridge. Sponsored by their high schools and Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH), BE Teams work to cause sustainable change that supports healthy, tobacco-free environments and prevents youth from initiating tobacco use. 

Annually, as part of a kick off to the school year, JCPH sponsors an intensive half-day Youth Advocacy Workshop that includes skill-building activities and leadership training to support BE Team students in their advocacy and outreach efforts throughout the school year. This year’s workshop will take place on October 3, 2015, from 9am to 1:30pm at the Jefferson County Courts and Administration Building and will include lessons in communications, policy change and public speaking. The workshop also allows for teambuilding and fun. By bringing BE Team students from each of the area high schools together, students report feeling connected to a bigger movement to end the tobacco epidemic. 

Tristin Roman, a Lakewood High School senior, became a dedicated BE Team member after attending the Youth Advocacy Workshop three years ago. One of Tristin’s significant accomplishments as part of the BE Team involved testifying before the Golden City Council to advocate in favor of their smoke and vapor-free public places ordinance, which passed unanimously in August 2014 and became effective January 1, 2015. Additionally, Tristin was recently appointed the inaugural position of Youth Chair of the Tobacco-Free Jeffco Alliance, an alliance of individuals and organizations addressing tobacco use in Jefferson County. In response to his participation as a BE Team member, Tristin stated, “I am really glad I joined the BE Team because it has made me a better person and improved my life. I’ve become a better leader and public speaker.”

Most recently, Wheat Ridge High School BE Team members have been advocating for a stronger smoke and vapor-free public places ordinance in the City of Wheat Ridge through a variety of activities such as a cigarette butt pick-up in Discovery Park and testifying to Wheat Ridge City Council about their findings.  If passed, the new ordinance would prohibit the use of electronic smoking devices in places that are smoke-free and would expand smoke and vapor-free protections to outdoor public recreation areas, city events, and outdoor transit waiting areas. The Council is expected to vote on this ordinance on October 12.

 To learn more about the Jeffco Breathe Easy Team or sign up to get involved, visit www.JeffcoTobaccoFreeYouth.com or contact Zach Dunlop at zdunlop@jeffco.us or 303-239-7169. For more information about this year’s Youth Advocacy Workshop, visit tobaccofreejeffco.com/events/. 

Jefferson County Youth Break Up with Nic O. Tine and Prepare to Kick “Butts”

“You are too clingy. You smell bad. You make me look crusty, and that is not okay.” Those are only a few of the many sentiments expressed by Jefferson County high school students as they wrote break up and rejection letters to “Nic O. Tine,” a fictional character representing all tobacco products. This interactive student-led activity helped kick off Jefferson County Public Health’s new tobacco prevention campaign called “Kiss of Death.”

Tobacco use continues to plague our youth. According to the Surgeon General, nearly 9 out of 10 people who smoke, start by age 18, and 99% start before the age of 26. Most recently, electronic smoking devices (ESDs) have been increasing in popularity at alarming rates. The CDC states that between 2011 and 2012, overall youth e-cigarette use more than doubled, and in 2013, more than a quarter million (three times the amount in 2011) middle and high school students who had never smoked regular cigarettes had used e-cigarettes. As ESD manufacturers and retailers misrepresent their products, young people are perceiving these products as a safe way to use nicotine or marijuana by young people. The Kiss of Death campaign intends to illuminate the risks of any type of nicotine addiction, including addiction caused by use of ESDs.

Prior to the campaign kick-off, during the weeks approaching Valentine’s Day, Breathe Easy (BE) Team members posted flyers around their schools reminding their peers that tobacco contains over 4,000 chemicals, including arsenic and formaldehyde, which are found in rat poison and the fluid used to preserve dead people, respectively.

Although love was in the air as Valentine’s Day approached, over 200 high school students wrote break up or rejection letters to “Nic.” Serious or funny, sad or rhymed, the letters provided a means to express their discontent with unhealthy, abusive, and dangerous relationships with tobacco. One student wrote, “I can’t breathe when I am around you,” and another said, “You cost too much money.” The BE Teams helped with organizing and facilitating this activity during their schools’ lunch hour in order to educate, involve, and inspire their peers.

BE Teams are youth clubs working on tobacco prevention efforts in their schools and communities. Supported by their high schools and Jefferson County Public Health’s Tobacco Prevention Initiative, BE Teams educate community members about the problem of tobacco and advocate for sustainable solutions, including policy change.

Kiss of Death campaign events will help the BE Teams gain momentum for National Kick Butts Day on March 18, 2015. Kick Butts Day is an annual day of activism empowering youth in local communities to “stand out, speak up, and seize control” against tobacco use and the targeting of youth by tobacco companies. To honor this national day of activism, Jefferson County youth are hoping to speak in front of their local city councils to provide a youth perspective on the tobacco epidemic and present potential local best practice solutions. Youth will also be involved in cigarette butt pick-up activities to clean up public spaces of harmful cigarette litter. With nearly $8.5 billion dollars devoted to advertising and price discounts, the tobacco industry still heavily targets youth. In the words of one student rejecting tobacco and the industry’s tactics, “There is someone else, his name is responsibility.”

Helpful Resources:

• Learn more about youth tobacco prevention. 
• To learn more about Kick Butts Day and to get ideas about encouraging youth to speak up, visit www.kickbuttsday.org. 
• Explore helpful fact sheets from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids about the tobacco industry marketing to kids. 
• If you or someone you know needs help with breaking up with “Nic O. Tine.” consider some of the following FREE resources: 
• For telephone support, coaching and resources to help you or a loved one become tobacco-free; call the Colorado QuitLine at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). The QuitLine also offers web-based support at www.coquitline.org. This free service provides information and tools to develop your own personal plan for quitting. 
• The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment offers www.TobaccoFreeCO.org, an online web hub that connects visitors to a variety of resources and topics including cessation services and information on preventing secondhand smoke exposure and youth tobacco use. 
• COQuitMobile is a free text-based program that places you on the path to a life free from tobacco. 
• Attend a free tobacco cessation group hosted by Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge on Tuesdays at 12:00 p.m. This is a six week drop-in group that provides adults who want to quit smoking with tools and support to achieve their goals. (You do not need to attend all six weeks in order to participate.) 
• You may also visit the Thinking of Quitting page on the Tobacco-Free Jeffco Website for a list of additional resources and videos that will encourage and help you to quit.

To get involved in local tobacco prevention efforts, visit www.tobaccofreejeffco.com, email tobaccofree@jeffco.us or call 303-275-7555.

Jeffco Youth Stand Up to Tobacco’s Marketing Tactics

Jefferson County Breathe Easy (BE) Teams and the Tobacco-Free Jeffco Alliance hosted an event on March 19, 2014 in honor of National Kick Butts Day, an annual day of activism empowering youth to take a stand against the tobacco industry. High school BE Team students spoke to community members and policy makers about their recent “Sweet, Cheap and Deadly” campaign involving assessments of retail outlets near high schools, a photo voice project, educational outreach, and counter-marketing activities. The photographs taken by BE Team students in convenience stores and gas stations spoke to the fact that the tobacco industry is targeting youth in Jeffco through flavors and price discounts as well as novel products, including e-cigarettes. Youth encouraged adult community members to join them in addressing the problem of cheap, flavored tobacco by offering sustainable solutions to help protect generations to come.

To learn more about the “Sweet, Cheap and Deadly” campaign, please visit: tobaccofreejeffco.com/BE-Teams.html or contact Christie Preston, Youth Engagement Specialist at cpreston@jeffco.us or 303-275-7565.

Sweet Cheap and Deadly . . . Jeffco Youth Raise Awareness of Tobacco Marketing Tactics

Jefferson County youth expressed concern about the candy-flavored, cheap tobacco products currently available in stores at the annual Breathe Easy (BE) Team Youth Advocacy Workshop back in October 2013. Motivated and alarmed by the tobacco industry’ s marketing tactics, the students came together and developed the concept for “Sweet, Cheap and Deadly,” an educational campaign to raise awareness about how the tobacco industry is targeting youth. Using strategies such as retail-level promotions, discounted pricing and the use of flavors and additives intended to attract and addict young people, the tobacco industry lures youth to their products. The Sweet, Cheap and Deadly campaign involves observational scans to assess tobacco industry marketing in local retail outlets as well as educational outreach at schools, counter marketing activities and opportunities to speak with local leaders about the problem of cheap, flavored tobacco. During the week of February 10, 2014, BE Teams will host information tables at Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Golden, Jefferson and Alameda High Schools to educate their peers about deceptive tobacco industry tactics. Outreach will include collecting signatures from students who are interested in taking a stand against Big Tobacco’s concerted efforts to manipulate teens. BE Team students will have a chance to present what they learned to community members on Kick Butts Day (March 19, 2014), a national day of activism to empower youth to speak out against the tobacco industry.

If you would like to know more about the “Sweet, Cheap and Deadly” campaign or the BE Team, contact Christie Preston, Youth Engagement Coordinator at Jefferson County Public Health at 303-275-7565 or cpreston@jeffco.us.

The 2014 Surgeon General’s Report released last month highlighted the fact that tobacco control efforts have averted at least 8 million early deaths since 1965, but there is still much work to be done. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 5.6 million children alive today will die prematurely from smoking unless steps are made to stop the tobacco epidemic. View the devastating effects of smoking in Colorado and across the country.