Tobacco Use Prevention

It’s a Matter of Life and Death

Use of tobacco products is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing over 400,000 people in one year! In addition, 131,000 of Georgia’s youth under the age of 18 will die prematurely from tobacco use!

Tobacco is the only product that when used as directed, kills 1 out of 3 users.

Second hand smoke is the third leading cause of death in the US, killing more than 53,000 non-smokers each year.

• For every 8 smokers who die, they take one non-smoker with them.
• In Georgia, roughly 423,000 youth are exposed to second hand smoke at home.
• It takes two weeks for nicotine to clear from the air in a room where smoking has occurred.
• 300,000 children get sick every year because someone smoked around them.

The death toll from tobacco is equivalent to 4 fully loaded jumbo jets crashing each day with no survivors.

• Nationally, smoking results in more than 5 million years of potential life lost each year.
• # Tobacco is the only product that when used as directed, kills one out of three users.
• Each year, tobacco use kills more than 10,000 Georgians and drains $1.2 billion from our economy.

Tobacco and youth use – A Child Health Problem!

• The average age of initiation for tobacco use is between 10 and 13.
• An estimated 30,000 youth under age 18 begin smoking each year and another 10,000 start using spit tobacco products.
• One million youth will become regular smokers this year.
• In Georgia, 49% of middle school students have tried cigarettes.
• The tobacco industry spends $146 million on youth advertising each year in Georgia alone.
• According to the CDC, teen smokers are three times more likely to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana, and twenty-two times more likely to use cocaine.