LIBERTY — This year in Sullivan County, almost 75 students participated in Chalk the Walk events in Roscoe and Monticello for World No Tobacco Day to expose big tobacco and raise awareness in their schools about the dangers of vaping. The Chalk the Walks were completed as part of the students’ CATCH My Breath vaping prevention program. The students went outside and wrote facts about vaping and tobacco, quit/support lines, and hashtags including:

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S.

“Today’s teenager is tomorrow’s potential customer.” – Philip Morris (Tobacco Company)

There is no safe smoke.

95% of middle schoolers chose NOT to vape.

Text DITCHVAPE to 88709 for help quitting.

World No Tobacco Day is celebrated annually on May 31st to draw global attention to the epidemic of tobacco use and the preventable death and disease it causes. This year’s theme is #TobaccoExposed, which gives youth a platform to talk about the deceptive tactics of the tobacco and vaping industries and how they directly market to children and young adults through flavored products and advertising.

“These industries are intentionally designing products and utilizing marketing strategies that appeal directly to children,” said Dr. Ruediger Krech, Director, WHO Director of Health Promotion. “The use of child-friendly flavors like cotton candy and bubblegum, combined with sleek and colorful designs that resemble toys, is a blatant attempt to addict young people to these harmful products.”

If you would like the CATCH My Breath vaping prevention program brought to your school, organization, or youth group, please contact Nicole Blais, Sullivan 180 Prevention Coordinator, at Nicole@Sullivan180.org or 845-295-2684.