Copiah Native Helping to Teach About Tobacco

Source from:  clarionledger.com The Associated Press CRYSTAL SPRINGS 09/20/2007

A Copiah County native is making traveling across the country teaching young people through the Truth Anti-Tobacco Campaign that it's OK to say no to tobacco. Jason Thompson, 25, of Crystal Springs, doubles as a hip-hop artist and an anti-tobacco advocate, traveling to places like New York City and Chicago and working with young people of all ages. Thompson passes along the message of Truth, whose popular "anti-drug" commercials made the group famous in recent years. "Actually I've worked with kids of all ages since I worked with the summer YMCA programs in Jackson," said Thompson, adding that was where he got the experience he needed to start working with the Truth crew in 2006. "What we do is we execute events before a game or a concert and we try to work with teens and young adults to educate them about tobacco in an environment where they're comfortable and not feeling preached to." The Crystal Springs High School and University of Mississippi graduate said part of the reason he feels his message and his work are important is because young adults need hope in today's world. They need an option, he said, to following societal norms. "African-Americans don't have a lot of positive causes brought to young people by young people," he said. "It's important kids know about tobacco and the risks associated to their health." His mission is somewhat personally driven, Thompson said, as his family has suffered through a tobacco-related death. "My grandfather was a smoker and he died before I ever met him," Thompson said. "One out of three smokers eventually die from tobacco-related illnesses." He said he noticed the tolls tobacco will take on the human body at a young age, which influenced him to try to do something about it. "I never personally smoked, but I had a lot of friends who did and some of the teachers I had smoked, and I noticed the physical deterioration," Thompson said. "I didn't really associate the health defects with it until I got old enough to understand. I mean, my father smoked when I was younger, we tried to steal his cigarettes and hide them." Thompson said part of his goal has been not only to reach out to the public, but to reach his own family as well. "I tried to give my information to my sister to make her consider stopping smoking," he said. "My father has stopped, and my sister is trying to stop now, partially because of the work I've done on this cause." And the tobacco problem is universal, he said. It is not limited to small towns, nor to the South, nor just to any one family or age group. "New York, where I am now, is so very diverse," he said. "You can see all the people, and they're all different kinds of people that we talk to and see that they're all affected by tobacco. "Regardless of where you're from or where you grow up, it affects your life." Statistics on Truth's Web site indicate the movement continues to be a relevant and driving force in teen culture. In February 2005, the American Legacy Foundation released the results of an evaluation of the national Truth campaign that was published in the American Journal of Public Health which found that 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking, or 300,000 smokers, during the first two years of the campaign (2000-2002) was directly attributable to Truth. Thompson said he wants to continue to keep up the good work, reaching kids in whatever way he can. He said Truth has given him the platform he needed. Enditem