Helping One Friend At A Time by Mari Medina

Hello all of you amazing people! I want to take a moment to say I’m really happy! Why? Because I’ve recently gotten to have the experience of a lifetime. One of my best friends recently quit vaping and I was a part of why he stopped. A few months ago, I asked him to take a quick survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/NMS_survey_FY22. 

This survey asks questions about tobacco products being sold to minors. After taking the survey he talked to me about his own issues with vaping, and how he just couldn’t seem to quit, then again, he never tried. That was the problem. After talking he took it upon himself, without telling anyone, including me, to quit the habit. He said taking the survey and reading through what it tells you at the end, opened his eyes as to how harmful tobacco products could be. Even though he had only started a year ago, he noticed that he didn’t have as much energy as he used to. He and I hadn’t talked for a month and a half, then he called and told me he had “done it.”

“Done what?” I asked, confused by how he started the conversation.

“I quit vaping!”

Those words might not mean much to you, but in my eyes, I just helped one of my best friends and I didn’t even know it. I’m still completely shocked, and happy just by having a simple conversation. By him saying that he quit because of a little survey I asked him to take, made me want to continue helping people and continue getting people’s attention on how tobacco really does affect people’s lives. He inspired me to put myself out there and make that difference. In all honesty, I can’t say that I knew tobacco affected people that quickly, but hearing it from him, a 17-year-old, opened my eyes too. Working with No Minor Sale has changed my life even though I don’t use tobacco products. If you asked me a year ago to go out and ask random people to take a survey, I would have said no. Now here I am, wondering how many other lives I’ve helped change. I guess it’s true, you really do learn things every day.

The link above is specific for New Mexico residents. In this survey, it asks if the survey taker is concerned about minors using tobacco products, if flavored tobacco products are safer than traditional products, if flavors are more appealing to minors, and if tobacco products target certain races, and populations. If you want to be part of the change, please click the link above and take the survey. It takes less than five minutes. If you do decide to take the survey, my evolvement ID is: 18155. You will need this ID at the end of the survey.

Good bye for now!

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