Healthy Lincoln County staff, Anni Pat McKenney, and Lincoln County Health Care staff, Orion Breen, were lucky enough to be invited to Nobleboro Central School's 7th grade health class to discuss the dangers of tobacco products. The class learned about how, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading cause of preventable death in the United States is tobacco-related diseases. Tobacco causes more deaths than AIDS, alcohol, motor vehicle crashes, homicides, drugs and suicide combined.

The students learned about how tobacco companies need to market to youth because they have to replace the nearly 450,000 tobacco users that die every year. They do this is a variety of ways; by looking for celebrity endorsements that are attractive to teens, adding flavors to tobacco products and spending billions each year in advertising to promote their products. 90 percent of all adult tobacco users started using tobacco before they were 18, so the teenage years are where prevention efforts should be focused.

Healthy Lincoln County and Lincoln County Healthcare have teamed up to fight the high tobacco rates of teens and young adults in Lincoln County. They would like to bring awareness to the issue and gets kids and adults talking about it. The 7th grade health class at Nobleboro Central School was a great example of how kids are doing this and the students there generated a good class discussion.

The good news is that most people who use tobacco want to quit. A recent study showed that 8 out of 10 people who are currently using say they are seriously thinking of quitting in the next six months. And although folks may have attempted to quit several times unsuccessfully, your chances of quitting actually improves each time that you attempt a quit. This Thursday, Nov. 21, is the Great American Smokeout and it may be a good time to attempt to quit. The Nobleboro 7th graders also learned about available support resources. If you or someone you know would like some help with quitting, you can check local resources by calling 211 or call the State of Maine Helpline at 1-800-207-1230.