Arkansas Schools Invited to Help Stamp Out Smoking - January 15th, 2008
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. (Dec. 19, 2007) – Stamp Out Smoking (SOS), Arkansas’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, through the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), is inviting Arkansas primary and secondary schools to help spread the smoking prevention and cessation message again this year.
Although many steps have been taken to discourage non-smokers from ever smoking and to encourage smokers to quit, the best way to reach the younger audiences that are targets for the tobacco companies is through the schools, according to Dr. Carolyn Dresler, Branch Chief, ADH Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Branch.
“Stamp Out Smoking has had great success with various outreach programs in delivering the anti-tobacco message to schools across the state and hopes to continue the success by encouraging schools to display SOS signage in visible locations in their schools,” Dresler said. “Last year we had 129 schools across the state participate in this project,” Dresler said. “We hope more schools will get onboard this year and help us reach our goal of 250. Schools’ willingness to partner with Stamp Out Smoking to keep our kids healthy is appreciated.”
“Our youth are bombarded daily with messages of smoking as cool, instead of extremely harmful, so we need help from our schools to make sure our youth are faced with a truthful message about tobacco everyday.”
To help spread the message, the Department of Health would like to send Schools a “Stamp Out Smoking” banner and a
“Stamp Out Spit” banner that can be hung in the gymnasium, sports field, cafeteria or interior hallway. Administrators at schools who are interested in participating should call Luis Gonzalez at (501) 975-8322 or e-mail him at luis.gonzalez@cjrw.com.
Responses are needed by Friday, Dec. 21. Participating schools will receive their banners, with rope, at the beginning of the second semester. For more information about the program or other anti-tobacco programs in your area, contact the ADH Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program at 501-661-2953 or visit www.stampoutsmoking.com.
SOS is part of the ADH’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. The program’s goal is to reduce death and illness caused by tobacco use and highlighting the truth about the harmful effects of tobacco use and secondhand smoke following the “Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs” provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
