Hi, my name is Mason Scheiern. I am from Bethany Oklahoma, and I am a senior at Putnam City West High School. I am in a student-led program called YAHL. YAHL stands for Youth Action for Health Leadership. Under the YAHL program, there are two campaigns, and I personally love our CounterAct Tobacco campaign, because its goal is to educate youth on the harmful effects of vapes and e-cigarettes as well as inform the community about laws like preemption. 

For the CounterAct Tobacco campaign, we host events in our community to gather surveys and inform the community about laws like preemption, which prevent cities from passing their own laws on vapes and e-cigarettes. These vapes and e-cigarettes are being sold to the youth because there are not strict enough policies in place for these products like there are for traditional cigarettes. With all of the surveys we collect and data we gather, we eventually go speak to legislators and key decision makers to prove that the community supports us in trying to overturn preemption to protect our youth from the harmful effects of vapes and e-cigarettes.

We need your support with the CounterAct Tobacco campaign in hopes to not only remove preemption, but to move the power out of Big Tobacco’s hands and into ours!

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By: Mason Scheiern, Putnam City West High School