Reality Check Youth Spread the Word on Menthol Tobacco

Bayshore, NY – For the second year in a row, Long Island Reality Check youth partnered with Amore Pizzeria of Bay Shore to inform community members about the dangers of menthol-flavored tobacco products. Youth placed over 200 informational stickers, containing scannable barcodes, on outgoing pizza boxes. The barcodes take customers to NotJustMenthol.org, where they can access vital information about the impact of menthol-flavored commercial tobacco products on marginalized communities and youth, as part of the New York State Tobacco Control Program’s It’s Not Just campaign.

Reality Check coordinator Stacy Dacelien explained, “The It’s Not Just campaign stresses that menthol-flavored tobacco products are not JUST another a flavor, but they do make smoking easier to start and harder to quit.”

More than half (54%) of youth who smoke (ages 12-17 years) use menthol cigarettes and 70 percent of African American youth who smoke use menthol cigarettes. The Center for Black Health & Equity further highlights these disproportionate rates within the black community with their annual call to action – No Menthol Sunday. This day of observance, to be held this year on May 19th, 2024, engages faith leaders to educate congregants about smoking, vaping, and the role of menthol and other flavors in initiating tobacco addiction.

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The Tobacco Action Coalition of LI is one of 21 Advancing Tobacco Free Communities’ grants funded by the NYS DOH’s Bureau of Tobacco Control and administered by the American Lung Association. Our grant is comprised of a community engagement and youth action component, Reality Check, who work collaboratively to promote environments open to creating a tobacco-free norm as well as educating and empowering our youth to become change agents within their communities.