VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Students in North Dakota joined thousands of young people nationwide on March 21st to mark national Kick Butts Day.

Students encouraged their peers to be tobacco-free, reject tobacco companies’ marketing and urge elected officials to help make the next generation tobacco-free.

City County Health Tobacco Free coordinator Heather Schwehr told Valley City students at St. Catherine’s and Washington Elementary schools about how electronic cigarettes have become the most popular tobacco product used by kids – nationwide, 11.3 percent of high school students use e-cigarettes compared to 8 percent who smoke cigarettes. She said the latest trend with teens is JUUL, an e-cigarette that looks like a computer flash drive and comes in flavors like mango and fruit medley.

Schwehr said tobacco companies spend one-million dollars a day advertising or promoting their products.

In North Dakota, tobacco use claims 1,000 lives and costs $326 million in health care bills each year. Currently, 11.7 percent of North Dakota’s high school students smoke.