Duneland.com > Calendar > March 2010 > Duneland Kids 'Kick Butts'

Duneland Kids 'Kick Butts'

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 • 2:30 pm

Boys and Girls Club, Chesterton

State Leaders Urged to Support Higher Tobacco Taxes, Other Tobacco Prevention Initiatives

The Duneland Boys & Girls Club will hold its Kickball for Kick Butts event on March 24th at 2:30 p.m. at the club, 135 Lincoln Avenue, Chesterton. Club members will start the day by picking up improperly disposed of cigarette butts throughout the neighborhood surrounding the club. After the clean-up club members will participate in a kickball game. There will be prizes for all who participate in the event. Throughout Indiana kids will take center stage in the fight against tobacco as they join thousands of young people nationwide for the 15th annual Kick Butts Day. More than 1,000 Kick Butts Day events are planned in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Kick Butts Day is an annual celebration of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco use. Kids are sending two powerful messages on Kick Butts Day: They want the tobacco companies to stop targeting them with marketing for cigarettes and other tobacco products, and they want elected leaders to do more to protect them from tobacco.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other public health advocates are calling on elected officials to support proven measures to reduce tobacco use and its devastating toll. As states struggle with record budget deficits, state leaders should increase tobacco taxes both to prevent kids from smoking and to raise revenue to balance budgets and fund critical programs. States should also enact smoke-free air laws that apply to all workplaces and public places and implement well-funded tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

"On Kick Butts Day, kids are standing up to the tobacco companies, and elected officials should stand with them by supporting proven tobacco prevention measures," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "We know what works to reduce smoking and other tobacco use. Every state should implement these proven solutions, including higher tobacco taxes, well-funded tobacco prevention programs and smoke-free air laws."

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in health care bills each year. While the nation has made significant progress in reducing youth smoking, 20 percent of high school students still smoke.

In Indiana, tobacco use claims 9,700 lives and costs $2.08 billion in health care bills each year. Currently, 18.3 percent of the state's high school students smoke, and 34,900 kids try cigarettes for the first time each year.