Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action, the new name for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ signature platform Kick Butts Day, is designed to empower youth advocates to stand up and speak out against Big Tobacco. The Take Down Tobacco program is a 365-day-a-year effort that culminates with a Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action.
This year’s Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action will be held April 1.
According to Take Down Tobacco, “The stakes couldn’t be higher. Big Tobacco is running new PR campaigns claiming they’re the good guys. They say they’ve reformed, that they’re ‘beyond smoking,’ and that they want a ‘smoke-free world.’ But it’s the same lie they’ve been telling for decades.”
Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, smoking accounts for 7,200 adult deaths in Louisiana every year contributing significantly to our state’s challenging health status, which costs taxpayers $1.89 billion dollars annually in actual healthcare expenditures and $2.49 billion in lost productivity.
Through observances like Take Down Tobacco Day and other annual smoking-related campaigns and events, the Smoking Cessation Trust strongly supports the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids as they aim to educate this young, vulnerable audience, while empowering them to stand up and take Big Tobacco down.
The Smoking Cessation Trust, in addition to its work with numerous statewide health providers, has registered more than 121,000 eligible Louisiana smokers who are getting the message that quitting is one of the best things they can do for their health, their families, and their finances.
For more information or to apply for the free products and services provided by the Trust, visit www.smokefreela.org; call locally at (504) 529-5665 or toll-free at (855) 259-6346.