Young people will campaign in body bags at Yale College in Wrexham on March 20th to urge their friends not to become the tobacco industry’s next generation of smokers.
Local students will join campaigners from the Filter, Wales’s only smoking cessation service for 11-25 year olds, to encourage young people to ‘stand out, speak up and seize control’ against Big Tobacco as part of Kick Butts Day – a global campaign that gives young people a chance to speak out against the industry that sees them as the ‘replacement’ smokers of the future.
Rhys Simmons, Youth Development Officer at the Filter said: “Kick Butts Day is about empowering young people to have the confidence to just say ‘no’ to smoking and protest against the way they’re targeted by the tobacco industry.
“15 people a day die in Wales each year because of smoking related diseases – that’s one person every 90 minutes. We don’t want young people facing that reality anymore,” he said.
“We’ll be at Yale College in Wrexham offering advice to young people who want to quit, talking about what support is out there and also hopefully persuading others that it’s just not worth the risk starting.”
The Filter is Wales’s only dedicated service for young people offering advice and support about smoking and how to quit. The service offers training to professionals working with young people and works with young people themselves to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco.
As well as a quitline, the Filter communicates with young people via social media, a dedicated website and text message and encourages them to become involved in local campaigning and peer support.
By ASH Wales
