Permitting tobacco on school campus means:

	kids will breathe secondhand smoke;
	the prevention messages learned in the classroom will be contradicted elsewhere on campus;
	children will see their adult role models on school campuses engaging in unhealthy behavior;
	kids are more likely to see tobacco use is normal;
	youth access to tobacco products is increased.

Each year, the equivalent of 950 classrooms of NC students will become tobacco users.

Over 30% of North Carolina’s high school students currently use tobacco products – a rate higher than the national average. Those North Carolina students who try tobacco products usually start around age 12.

More than a third of all kids who try tobacco will become regular daily users before leaving school.

Research shows tobacco use rates among youth decline 20% to 40% in schools with a consistently enforced, 100% tobacco-free school policy in place – one that bans all tobacco use on school campus, in school vehicles, and at school events, by everyone and at all times.