SAFE Glen Cove Coalition: World No Tobacco Day 2019

World No Tobacco Day is a national event that informs the public about the dangers of tobacco use. SAFE’s Social Worker/Life Skills Trainer, Nicole Giordano and the Youth Bureau After 3 Middle School students took part by writing letters to the editor of the local papers stating how they would like to educate the Glen Cove community of the dangers of smoking-in particular New York’s ban of flavored e-cigarettes.

Life Skills Training (LST) is a prevention program conducted by Ms. Giordano throughout the school year for students enrolled in the Youth Bureau’s after 3 program. Students were ready to take on the letters to the editor as they have been learning about the harmful effects of smoking and used that to discuss the state's effort in raising the sales age of tobacco state-wide to 21, banning the sales of enticing flavored e-cigarette liquids, banning the sales of tobacco in pharmacies and banning coupons and rebates that make these products more accessible.

LST is proven to reduce alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse, and violence while supporting the social and emotional development of youth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among middle school students, current use of tobacco products has decreased from 7.5% in 2011 to 5.6% in 2017. It is important to educate youth through prevention education programs to foster and develop healthy decision making.

To learn more about SAFE and the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition please follow us on www.facebook.com/safeglencove or visit SAFE’s website at www.safeglencove.org.