Students fight tobacco use

CASPER - Whitney Swieter started smoking in high school because she thought it was "the cool thing" and "everybody else was doing it."

She quit several years ago after learning more about the dangers and realizing it wasn't cool.

She and students in the newly formed Natrona County Youth Tobacco Prevention Coalition want students to be clearly informed about tobacco. They want to voice that not everyone is "doing it."

The group held its first meeting several weeks ago and most recently publicized its mission at Friday's Casper Ghosts game.

Casper has needed a youth organization against tobacco, said Swieter, assistant director of Well-Being of Wyoming.

"Natrona County and Wyoming have a higher rate of tobacco users in high school than the rest of the country," Swieter said. "Definitely for spit tobacco."

In 2007, about 21 percent of Wyoming students smoked, compared with 20 percent nationwide, according to the Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey's most recent numbers.

That same year, 15 percent of Wyoming students used smokeless tobacco, compared with only about 8 percent nationwide.

At Friday's game, Ryan Jones, 12, made it his job to make sure students and adults weren't using chew or smoking.

"Sir, do you use tobacco? If so would you like to learn how to quit?" Ryan asked a Casper Ghost fan entering Mike Lansing Field.

"No, I don't," the unsuspecting man replied.

"Thanks, you make my job a whole lot easier," Jones said.

The Centennial Junior High School student said he does not want others to suffer as his grandfather did.

"I'm here because my grandfather died of lung cancer," Jones said. "I don't want people to go through the fate he did."

The group has already gathered many outspoken young people like Ryan, Swieter said, and looked to gain more membership at the game.

Members wore bright blue shirts that said, "SWAT Team" on the back. SWAT stands for Students Working Against Tobacco.

They handed out trading cards listing some of tobacco's cancer-causing agents on them and asked other youth to sign tobacco-free pledges.

Alexis Johnson, 15, said she sees too many teens smoking or chewing.

"It kills so many people," Alexis said, and many teens are unaware of all the risks.

"I just don't like seeing people killing themselves," Johnson said. "It's nice to know you are making a difference."

The tobacco industry targets youths, said Deborah Walton, coordinator of Wyoming Through With Chew. There are peach-flavored cigarettes and berry-flavored chew, she said.

"The tobacco industry markets to youth so they can replace the over 430,000 who die each year from tobacco or a tobacco-related disease," Walton said.

The youth coalition hopes to influence adults to quit using tobacco and prevent youth from ever starting.

"I hope that we can reach out and show them the facts and figures," Alexis Johnson said. "And, hopefully, scare them away from tobacco products."