The Georgia Tobacco Free Youth Project’s mission is to help Georgia youth grow up tobacco-free. The Project provides training and technical assistance and promotes collaboration to prevent the initiation of tobacco use by youth and to help them quit. The Georgia Tobacco Free Youth Project has served state agencies, state and local policymakers, prevention specialists, primary and behavioral health care providers, schools, parents and youth, and youth-serving organizations.
PREVENTING TOBACCO USE AMONG YOUTH IS CRITICAL TO ENDING THE TOBACCO EPIDEMIC IN THE UNITED STATES.
- Nearly 9 out of 10 cigarette smokers first tried smoking by age 18, and 99% first tried smoking by age 26
- After nearly two decades of steady decreases, teen cigarette smoking rates increased in 2018
- Use of other tobacco products, particularly e-cigarettes, has skyrocketed
- 1 in 3 high school students currently use tobacco and in 2019, more than 5 million U.S. middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. (source: CDC)
DID YOU KNOW?
- If you don’t use tobacco products, don’t start. 99% of e-cigarette products contain nicotine, often in very high concentrations
- Nine out of ten adults who are hooked on tobacco products started before the age of eighteen.
- Nicotine in tobacco and vaping products is addictive and harms the developing brains of children, teens and young adults This sensitive period of rapid brain development begins at age 10 and lasts until the early 20’s.
- Nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin. Young people get addicted to nicotine more easily and more quickly than adults.
- Nicotine use by pre-teens, teens and young adults changes and harms the brain circuits that control learning, memory, attention and impulse control.
- Nicotine use increases the risk of mood disorders like depression and anxiety in young people.
- Nicotine use increases the risk of addiction to other drugs including alcohol, marijuana and opioids.
FACTS ABOUT E-CIGARETTES
- While e-cigarettes may have a place as a harm reduction strategy for adult smokers, they are always unsafe for youth, pregnant women and non-tobacco users.
- 99% of e-cigarettes sold in the United States contain nicotine, often in very high concentrations
- The “vapor” is not water, but an aerosol that penetrates deep into the lungs that can contain harmful
THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO QUIT SMOKING OR VAPING!
Smoking and vaping may increase your risk for serious COVID-19 infection. “Because it attacks the lungs, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could be an especially serious threat to those who smoke tobacco or marijuana or who vape,” Dr. Nora Volkow, National Institute of Drug Abuse
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For more information, contact Laura Searcy, MN, APRN, PPCNP-BC, FAANP, Program Coordinator at firstname.lastname@example.org.