Terrell, Dougherty counties participating in Kick Butts Day on Wednesday

ALBANY — Every day, more than 2,800 kids under 18 try smoking for the first time and 700 become new, regular daily smokers.

As a part of an effort to dissuade tobacco use before it starts, events will be held in Southwest Georgia as part of Kick Butts Day on March 18.

“Kick Butts Day, March 18, is a day of activism that empowers youth to raise awareness about the tobacco problem, and encourage peers to be tobacco-free and support effective solutions to reduce tobacco use,” Jacqueline Jenkins, epidemiologist and health promotions manager with the Southwest Public Health District, said. “As a nation we have made progress in the fight against tobacco use. However, tobacco use continues to be the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States.”

It kills more than 480,000 people annually, statistics from the Kick Butts campaign show.

Events have been planned in Terrell and Dougherty counties March 18 to help boost awareness among young people about the dangers of tobacco use, Jenkins said.

“An assembly on Kick Butts Day will be conducted at Terrell County Middle/High School will feature speakers from Greater Atlanta Voice Masters who are former smokers and are now part of a laryngectomy group,” she said.

At Terrell Middle, a song and poetry contest encouraging a tobacco-free lifestyle will be conducted, while the high school is planning a poster contest with the theme “You can soar high without tobacco.” Cooper-Carver Elementary School is doing a Kick Butts Day coloring contest, and rounding out Terrell County’s activities will be a Selfie Scavenger Hunt, Jenkins said.

In Dougherty County, activities will include skits, a presentation on the importance of being tobacco-free by Dougherty County Health Department Manager Remy Hutchins and a poster contest. Events are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Club of Albany at 1309 N. Jefferson St.

“In Georgia, 18.8 percent of adults smoke, and 12.8 percent of high school students smoke,” Jenkins said. “Also, 15.7 percent of Georgia’s male high school students use smokeless tobacco.”

To put that in perspective, she said, the adults who die each year from their own smoking in Georgia total 11,700.

“The number of kids now under 18 and alive in Georgia who will ultimately die prematurely from smoking is 204,000,” she said. “Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined – and thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes — such as fires caused by smoking (more than 1,000 deaths/year nationwide) and smokeless tobacco.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and around the world. It causes terrible and deadly diseases, including many forms of cancer, heart disease and emphysema, a lung disease. Tobacco use damages nearly every organ in the body.”

Statistics from the Kick Butts campaign show there are 14.5 million packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by children each year in Georgia. The annual health care costs in Georgia directly caused by smoking total $3.18 billion, $650.4 million of which is covered by the state’s Medicaid program.

Mayo Clinic describes emphysema, caused primarily by smoking, as a disease that gradually damages the air sacs in the lungs. The inner walls of the air sacs weaken and eventually rupture, reducing the surface area of the lungs and the amount of oxygen reaching the bloodstream. Treatments slow the progression of the disease, but existing damage to the lungs is irreversible.

In 2013, there were 23 deaths in the Southwest Public Health District — which includes Baker, Calhoun, Colquitt, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lee, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas and Worth counties — due to emphysema, data from the Georgia Department of Public Health Office of Health Indicators for Planning’s statistical information system shows.

To learn more about Kick Butts Day, go to www.kickbuttsday.org.