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Facts Regarding Tobacco Use Among Young Adults
- According to the Louisiana Higher Education Coalition to Reduce Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs (LaHEC), 32.3% of males and 19.3% of females reported using tobacco within the last 30 days.
- Nationally, college-age students, 18-24 have the highest smoking rate among all age groups.
Facts Regarding Tobacco Industry Marketing Tactics
- In Louisiana alone, the tobacco industry spends more then $291.5 million on marketing annually.
- The tobacco industry aggressively targets their youngest, legal consumer group
(ages 18-24) with promotional tactics in bars, nightclubs and college social
events. A 2004 study in the American Journal of Public Health contends that
tobacco industry sponsored events and special promotional offers encourage the
initiation and progression of tobacco use among college students, especially those
who haven't begun smoking begun smoking before they entered college.
- College campuses are the first legal playground for young adults to experiment
with tobacco and the tobacco industry knows it. With aggressive marketing in
college bars and college social events, the tobacco industry successfully links
alcohol with tobacco to create the illusion that tobacco use is a normal, expected
part of young adult's social lives. Unfortunately, many students don't
realize that they are prey to a powerful industry that actively recruits them to
become daily tobacco users, and the consequences are deadly.
Toll of Tobacco
- The toll of tobacco use in Louisiana is high. Smoking-related deaths claim
the lives of approximately 6,400 Louisianans each year and secondhand smoke
exposure in associated with the deaths of approximately 1,000 Louisianans
annually.
- The lack of understanding by young adults about the real dangers of tobacco use,
even if it is only casual smoking, is resulting in a growing number of young adults
that leave college with a degree and an addiction that may take 20 years to a
lifetime to overcome.
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