RJR Enhances Youth Tobacco Prevention Program

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) is improving its efforts to help youths remain tobacco free.

RJR's youth tobacco prevention program, “Right Decisions Right Now: Be Tobacco Free” (RDRN) now offers more website features, including Spanish-language posters and parent brochures, smart board activities, improved navigation and optimized videos for easier downloading.

According to the Winston-Salem-based tobacco company, RDRN educational materials, which are available via computers and smart boards, are used to teach middle-school students about the risks of using tobacco products. The program is designed to empower students to make good decisions, including the decision not to use tobacco, and to give them the knowledge to live a healthy lifestyle.

More than 20,000 middle schools across the country have used the RDRN program since it was independently developed more than 20 years ago. The program is also used by community groups such as Boy Scouts of America; Big Brothers, Big Sisters; and the Crosby Scholars Program, the company said.

"These improvements to RDRN make the program more user-friendly for the modern classroom and beyond," said Laura Leigh Oyler, a public policy director involved in R.J. Reynolds' youth tobacco prevention efforts. "RDRN is part of our company's long-term initiative to transform the tobacco industry. Over the past 20 years, youth tobacco prevention efforts and programs have had a big impact on reducing teen smoking, now at a historic low, and we are actively working on ways to accelerate the decline in youth tobacco use."

The program moved to a digital format in 2012 and is designed for students in grades five through nine. The free materials include teacher and parent guides, as well as interactive activities that provide students with factual information about tobacco prevention that they can reference when completing subsequent lessons. All of the guides are available at www.rightdecisionsrightnow.com .

The RDRN enhancements were created by By Kids for Kids, a marketing company that provides educational resources.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., an indirect subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States.