FREMONT, OH (WTOL) - Nine out of ten cigarette smokers first tried smoking by age 18, that's according to the Center for Disease control.
This statistic is why a new initiative is working to help kids kick the habit before it even starts.
The students of Fremont Ross High School were taught about the negative effects of tobacco smoking Wednesday and were given a chance to sign a pledge in what is being dubbed as National 'Kick Butts Day.'
That's cigarette butts.
Today a presentation from the Campaign of Tobacco-Free Kids was set up outside the school cafeteria with warnings of the chemicals within a cigarette, and what happens to your body after smoking for only a few weeks.
"If it does harm someone within their family, getting lung cancer or some type of disease from smoking, then it hits home. Otherwise, when they do it they think it's not going to happen to me. And they could smoke as a teenager and not get those negative effects until they're older in life," said Fremont Ross interventionist Susan Frye.
Students were then given a chance to trace their hand and sign their name to show their promise to not smoke.
And according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, more and more kids are now trying e-cigarettes or flavored cigars.
Which is why it is important for these kids to hear today's message from their peers.
"I think that there is a lot more awareness now than what there was. And I think a lot of my peers are doing a great job of spreading it, because a lot of them are against it." said Cassidy Ratliff, Fremont Ross student and member of the group Students Against Destructive Decisions.
For more information, visit the Kick Butts website.
