Francis Marion School students along with numerous other students took part in the fight to reduce tobacco use and therefore dropping the death toll in the United States and around the world.

The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) helped spearhead Alabama students in this campaign.

Kick Butts Day is a national day of activism that empowers youth to stand out, speak up and seize control against Big Tobacco. Kick Butts Day took place on March 20 with more than 1,000 events in schools and communities across the United States and even around the world.

On Kick Butts Day, teachers, youth leaders and health advocates organize events to:

Raise awareness of the problem of tobacco use in their state or community;

Encourage youth to reject the tobacco industry’s deceptive marketing and stay tobacco-free; and

Urge elected officials to take action to protect kids from tobacco.

Kick Butts Day is organized by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a leading force in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its deadly toll in the United States and around the world.

It is important to teach the dangers of tobacco.

According to the event’s website, tobacco will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century unless countries take strong action to fight against tobacco use. Nearly 80 percent of these deaths will be in low and middle income countries. The organization also claims as many as 80,000 to 100,000 young people around the world become addicted to tobacco and if current trends continue, an estimated 250 million children and young people alive today will die from tobacco-related diseases.

Programs like this are important to keep our next generation healthy and to reverse the tide that tobacco has impacted on the world.