Local students Encourage Peers to ‘Kick Butts’ and Stop Smoking

Students across the country participated in projects Wednesday all in an effort to keep kids from smoking.

March 15th was National Kick Butts Day. In Montgomery, a youth advisory board made up of middle school students staged a very visual scene.
They posed as dead bodies in body bags to draw attention to the dangers of smoking.
They want to send a message to their peers and tobacco companies as well.
“The most surprising thing I found out was that tobacco companies market to kids. Like it’s really sad. They come up with ‘Hello Kitty’ cigarettes for children to smoke. That’s not really good. Marketing to adults is one thing, but marketing to children who don’t know what they are getting themselves into…that’s pretty bad,” said 6th grader Madison Bailey.
According to reports, in Alabama, tobacco use claims 8,600 lives and costs 1.88 billion dollars in health care bills each year.
Right now, 14 percent of Alabama’s high school students smoke.