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Kim Johnson ReportingIt's national "kick-butts" day, a day to encourage smokers to kick the habit. At the Salt Lake library, some kids are putting some drama into their message.
Almost 90-percent of smokers start before they're 19, so some kids are trying to prevent other kids from starting before it's too late. They belong to the anti-tobacco group "phoenix alliance", and they're dropping dead to demonstrate the grave consequences of cigarette smoking.
Twenty-two percent of America's high-schoolers smoke cigarettes. Eight percent of Utah teens smoke. Advocates say that's too many.
Marci Fjelstad, Phoenix Alliance Coordinator: "The younger you are when you start, the harder it is to quit later on. And we know that about sixty percent of Utah teens who do smoke are trying to quit. So there aren't many people out there who haven't tried to quit at least once."
1,200 Utahns die from smoking related illnesses every year.
