The Georgia Healthy Family Alliance works to reverse the recent trend of more teens vaping and using e-cigarettes. 

The Jackson EMC Foundation provided a $10,000 grant to the Northeast Georgia Strike Force for its Tar Wars campaign to address this trend. This national vaping and tobacco use prevention program is overseen in Georgia by the Tucker based Georgia Healthy Family Alliance, the foundation arm of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians. The initiative began in 1988 to combat smoking and chewing tobacco and evolved as tobacco products changed. 

The Tar Wars program focuses on the dangers of tobacco use, e-cigarettes, vapes and hookahs for fourth and fifth graders in Barrow and Hall counties. “Our goal is to shape children’s opinions about vaping before they start – to teach them about the dangers before they are offered their first cigarette, vape or dip,” said Kara Sinkule, deputy director at Georgia Healthy Family Alliance. 

The Tar Wars program was presented to 2,731 students last spring with many creating artwork for a statewide poster contest. The Georgia Healthy Family Alliance continues to seek creative ways to keep kids away from tobacco and vapes. “The need for vaping and tobacco use prevention could not be more urgent,” said Dr. Monica Newton, chair of the Northeast Georgia Strike Force.

For more information about the Georgia Healthy Family Alliance, visit georgiahealthyfamilyalliance.org.