A Kansas Youth Tobacco Use fact sheet is available from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and has recently been updated for 2020.

The data reflects that nearly one in four (24.8%) Kansas high school students have ever tried conventional cigarettes (even one or two puffs) and 5.8% currently smoke conventional cigarettes while nearly half (48.6%) Kansas high school students have ever tried e-cigarettes, and 22.0% currently use e-cigarettes.

Nearly nine out of ten current smokers start by age 18, and 98% start by age 26 according to the Office of the Surgeon General. Research has shown that raising the minimum legal sale age for tobacco products from 18-21 will likely prevent or delay the use of tobacco among youth. Tobacco-21 was enacted at the federal level in December 2019.

The KDHE fact sheet can be found at http://www.kdheks.gov/tobacco/tobacco_facts.html.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. ACEs can include violence, abuse, and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems.

Toxic stress from ACEs can change brain development and affect how the body responds to stress. ACEs are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance misuse in adulthood.

Preventing ACSs can help children and adults thrive and potentially lower risk for conditions like depression, asthma, cancer, and diabetes in adulthood; reduce risky behaviors like smoking and heavy drinking; improve education and job potential, and stop ACEs from being passed from one generation to the next.

Want to learn more? www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aces/.