Leaders from the Alabama Department of Public Health, Children’s of Alabama, the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network and the Jefferson County Department of Health shared some startling research Monday about teen smoking in Alabama at the Birmingham Kick Butts Day rally held at Kelly Ingram Park. National Kick Butts day was March 15. 

“Nationally about 90 percent of smokers start using tobacco regularly by the time they are 18, and we know from the December 2016 Surgeon General’s Report that three million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in 2015. The nicotine in tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, is addictive. Teenagers, with their developing brains, are more likely to become addicted to nicotine than adults so it is crucial to prevent them from using tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, in this critical period of their lives,” said Susan Walley, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

Read the story on Childrensal.org