Iowa kids are joining others across the nation in the annual “Kick Butts Day” events today (Wednesday). Garin Buttermore is the coordinator for the teen anti-tobacco group “Just Eliminate Lies” or JEL. He says they bring the kids to the capitol and hold a training on how to call out legislators. He says the kids are taught how to discuss tobacco and other issues with their state representatives and senators. He says that’s a strength of the day — they learn how to talk with their legislators about anything. Buttermore says the annual day also exposes legislators to a group of constituents that lawmakers don’t always get to meet. He says they bring a lot of youth that are active and engage in learning, drawing attention to a group that doesn’t often get up to the capitol. The students will hold a rally later today. Buttermore says it’s fitting that the students are doing the talking, because he says it’s their fight. He says the tobacco issues that they’re fighting about today are really going to affect the youth of Iowa, as they’re the ones who’re being targeted and who’ll have to pay the costs of tobacco dependency. He says 27-percent of high school students in Iowa smoke and about 75-hundred kids become daily smokers every year.
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