Physicians made their voices heard yesterday at Smoke-Free Indiana’s annual Raise It for Health rally at the Indiana Statehouse, which drew about 200 people. Speakers focused on what remains to be done to reduce Hoosiers’ tobacco usage, now that the age to buy tobacco products in the U.S. has been raised to 21.

ISMA member Donald R. Westerhausen, Jr., MD, spoke on behalf of the Indiana chapter of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Westerhausen, an Elkhart cardiologist and the chapter’s president, highlighted the need for new laws to increase the state tobacco tax, raise the age to buy tobacco products in Indiana and restore state funding to educate Hoosiers about smoking prevention and cessation.

Emily Scott, MD, president-elect of the Indiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, also spoke. She noted the correlation between tobacco usage by pregnant Hoosiers and the state’s rate of premature births and infant mortality rate, for which Indiana ranks 42nd among all U.S. states.

“All of our Hoosier newborns deserve to be born healthy,” she said.

A large contingent of high school students from Hancock County came to the Statehouse with their schools’ chapters of Voice, a youth tobacco-cessation initiative. While physicians work to educate patients about the health risks of tobacco use, students involved with Voice are working to educate their peers.

Vaping, with its flavored tobacco and sleek, high-tech delivery systems, is a particular concern, they said.

“We’re not against the people that do it, were just trying to bring awareness that it’s not healthy for you to do and try to get you to maybe re-evaluate why you’re doing it,” said Hannah Willis, president of the Voice club at New Palestine High School. “We’re not here to target people who do it, but to educate them about what it’s doing to their body.”

Teens will think that vaping isn’t harmful unless someone tells them why it is, said Annie Twyford, also of New Palestine High.

“I had a few friends last year who quit and said they wanted to take back their life and their control, which was a huge step,” Twyford said. “(Vaping) can make you feel like you fit in. When it’s around you so much, it’s really hard to continuously say no to it.

“You don’t think about the actual consequences of it unless you’re educated.”