Somerville High School students recently participated in the National Kick Butts day by writing anti-smoking messages on city sidewalks with chalk.          

By Jackson Ellison

March 20 was National Kick Butts day, where events take place all over the country to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking. It is mainly targeted towards educating teens about the risks that come along with cigarettes.

Students at Somerville High School participated in Kick Butts Day by writing messages with chalk, all around the school grounds and city hall, about the harms of tobacco and the truth about e-cigarettes.

The messages were scattered all around the school and focused on spreading around the dangers of smoking in short, clear statements.  Students wrote messages like “A smoking habit= $3,285=a year,” and “Fight for a tobacco-free generation.”

Somerville Cares about Prevention and the City of Somerville Health and Human Services also joined with the high school in helping raise awareness for National Kick Butts Day. These organizations have worked with Somerville High School in the past few months to educate the student body about the dangers of tobacco and other drugs.

The events were sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-free kids, this year the campaign specifically targeted at e-cigarettes, a form of smoking that has become increasingly popular among teenagers in America.

Juul, a popular form of e-cigarette, has been heavily criticized for marketing their products for young people, by using appealing flavors like mango. While e-cigarette companies like to claim their product is safer than regular cigarettes, according to the Surgeon General, youth use of nicotine in any form is harmful.

According to a press release, Mathew L. Meyers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says he wants lawmakers to take action to prevent the spread of e-cigarettes, “We cannot allow e-cigarettes, especially Juul, to addict another generation and reverse the enormous progress we’ve made in reducing youth tobacco use,” said Meyers.

Only 6.4 percent of high school students in Massachusetts smoke cigarettes, according to True Initiative, which is lower than the national average which is 8.8 percent. However, 20.1 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes, which is higher than the national average of 13.2 percent.

Just a few months ago, Somerville High school released the results of a health survey of the student body, a main topic of interest was e-cigarettes usage by the students. The results were positive as 87 percent of students reported that they did not use e-cigarettes in the last 30 days.

On April 3, students from all over Massachusetts will participate in an anti-tobacco rally at the State House, where students will meet with state representatives and senators to discuss the problem of youth smoking.