Youth and Adults: Fighting the Tobacco Industry, Together

By: Mỹ Linh Nguyễn, Clara Seeley, Lily DeWitt, Ethan Kinsella, Princeton Vang, and Summer Balfanz

The tobacco industry will do anything to entice youth. Their influence is deeply embedded in our communities. They use bright colors and appealing flavors, sales and discounted prices, and social media and popular influencers to make their products seem trendy and mainstream. We’ve seen the results of the tobacco industry’s tactics loud and clear. Commercial tobacco use has taken over our school bathrooms, our social media feeds, and sadly, many of our friends’ lives.

So how do we push back? We think we know the answer: adults working alongside young people, encouraging youth to use their power and their voices to stand up and speak out. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing for more than two years at the Ramsey Student Action Team (SAT) with the support of the Association for Nonsmokers-MN (ANSR-MN).

SAT is a group of more than 20 high school students from 11 communities across Ramsey County. We are a dedicated group of youth advocates who have learned how to stop the tobacco industry and promote prevention and treatment resources. Our group was honored with the 2025 Group Youth Advocates of the Year Award from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for our extensive state and local advocacy efforts. As high school students, we saw the impact commercial tobacco use and nicotine addiction had on our peers, family members, and community, and wanted to do something about it. Our work taught us that our voices matter and are powerful. We are advocating to our city councils, at our social gatherings, in schools and at the state level.

Working alongside ANSR, our group was educated about public health and empowered. We were never prouder than when we influenced lawmakers with our written testimony and voices. And working with ANSR, we have reached people our age in schools who are uniquely vulnerable to being hooked on commercial tobacco products. We’ve brought attention to Minnesota’s achievements in fighting big tobacco at a national level. Our relationship with ANSR has been mutually beneficial, something that kickstarted our team members’ personal growth and encouraged the growth and wellbeing of the communities we live in.

With ANSR’s support, we have worked to strengthen policies in the cities of Vadnais Heights, Arden Hills, New Brighton, and St. Anthony Village, including ending the sale of flavored vapes and other flavored commercial tobacco products, setting a limit of retailers allowed to sell tobacco products, and increasing fines for retailers who break the law. We are especially proud of our work in Vadnais Heights. In November 2024, their city council voted unanimously to end flavored commercial tobacco sales after members of our group testified, organized letters of support and submitted letters to the editor in the local newspaper.

We are motivated and encouraged by our ability to make change. We hope passionately that other young people will continue to be heard and empowered in the same ways we have. Our work is more than the sum of its parts, more than self-knowledge, accomplishments, or the personal growth we have experienced. With the right kind of adult support from ANSR, we have learned how to effectively enact flavor policies that will protect youth, while making sure that our voice is involved.

We have worked hard and had a lot of success, but this work comes with challenges, too. Oftentimes, people find themselves thinking commercial tobacco is not an issue that applies to them. If they don’t smoke or vape, that’s all that matters. However, advocating for others is just as important as advocating for yourself. By showing people that someone they know is likely to be impacted, whether it’s their family member, friend, teacher or acquaintance, we are able to have meaningful conversations and make lasting change. We focus on the facts and help people understand the science behind what we’re advocating for. These things have made all the difference.

We have certainly faced challenges in our work, including when decision makers are dismissive of youth voices. One experience stands out: we were testifying in support of a policy addressing flavored commercial tobacco products. One council member would not look us in the eye or even try to pay attention to what we were saying. Although this was discouraging, as advocates, we need to have faith in the power of our work and trust that the effort we put in will outweigh any decision maker’s disregard for our voice.

As we continue to get the right support from adults to overcome these challenges, we are hopeful for the future. We know that hardworking people who truly care about an issue plaguing our world will always make things happen. Whether they are high school students or adults, everyone is impacted by commercial tobacco. We may be a small group, but we want to do as much as we can to make health a priority and strive for our generation to be a tobacco-free generation.

View the published article here: https://sahanjournal.com/sponsored/youth-and-adults-fighting-the-tobacco-industry-together/