Kentucky youth smoking rates are at an all time low, dropping nearly 10 percent over the past decade. Kentucky Department of Public Health attributes the decrease to the 100% Tobacco-free Schools Initiative, which prohibits the use of tobacco and its alternatives.
Murray Independent Schools is one of 60 districts in the state that has taken on the initiative. Murray Board of Education Chairman Dr. Richard Crouch sees the initiative as a way to reduce tobacco-related deaths.
“We have a huge potential to reduce the number of deaths every year due to tobacco related diseases. Anything that we as a community can do to help somebody else quit using tobacco, I think that’s a positive in the long run,” says Crouch.
Crouch says the school system reimbursed employees and students for purchasing products to help quit smoking up to 6 months after enacting the policy. According to the initiative’s website Marshall County is the only other school in the Jackson Purchase who has adopted the policy.
