Yost Theater to host screening of Addiction Inc., about youth smoking, on 3/24

TOBACCO CONTROL ADVOCATES JOIN FORCES TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT YOUTH SMOKING THROUGH FREE SCREENING OF DOCUMENTARY FILM “ADDICTION INCORPORATED” AT YOST THEATER IN SANTA ANA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Adrian Althoff, Communications Manager, National Latino Tobacco Control Network 408‐449‐6491 / aalthoff@indianalatino.com / adrian.althoff@gmail.com Bethzabe Martinez, President, LULAC‐Bolivia 714‐855‐8262 / bethzabemartinez@yahoo.com

WHAT: In an effort to raise awareness about smoking among youth and young adults, LULAC‐Bolivia (Council #3188 of the League of United Latin American Citizens, known as LULAC), the City of Santa Ana, the University of Southern California (USC/IPR), and the National Latino Tobacco Control Network (NLTCN) are joining forces to host a free public screening of the critically acclaimed documentary film ADDICTION INCORPORATED at Yost Theater.

When smoking goes down, cancer rates go down. Unfortunately, more than 600,000 middle school students and three million high school students smoke cigarettes today. Cigarette smoking has increased in the Latino community. One of every four Latino middle school students and one of every two Latino high school students are experimenting with cigarettes.

ADDICTION INCORPORATED, which premiered in 2011, traces the work of scientists, whistle‐blowers, news reporters, lawyers, and ultimately Congress to expose what they saw as decades of deceit by Big Tobacco in making and marketing products it long knew to be highly addictive.

Through this event, LULAC‐Bolivia and the other sponsors seek to empower the community with information about tobacco and cancer. They will also honor community leaders and the Santa Ana City Council for taking important steps to prevent the initiation of tobacco use among youth and protect workers and families from secondhand smoke by passing comprehensive tobacco control measures.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the film’s producer, Charmaine Parcero, and the film’s star, Victor DeNoble.

WHEN: Saturday, March 24, 2012

• 4:00 p.m. Pre‐Movie Press Conference Media invited to attend for interviews Speakers: ‐Beth Martinez, President, LULAC‐Bolivia ‐Mickie Solorio Luna, National Vice President for the Farwest, LULAC ‐Santa Ana Councilman Vincent Sarmiento ‐Dr. Lourdes Baezconde, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor in Preventive Medicine and Sociology, USC and NLTCN steering committee member ‐Film producer Charmaine Parcero ‐Star witness Victor DeNoble
• 5:00 p.m. Movie Screening

WHERE: The pre‐movie Press Conference will be held at El Festival, located at 220 E. 3rd Street, Santa Ana. The movie will be shown at Yost Theater, located at 307 N. Spurgeon Street, Santa Ana.

ABOUT THE LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS (LULAC) The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is a volunteer‐based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with 900 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit www.lulac.org.

ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PROJECT ADEPT The Advocacy and Data dissemination to achieve Equity for Priority populations on Tobacco (ADEPT) Project based at the University of Southern California is funded by California’s Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) to translate scientific tobacco use data from American Indian and Hispanic/Latino populations and disseminate critical information to increase mobilization on tobacco control program and policy initiatives.

ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PROJECT UNIDOS The UNIDOS project is one of the core organizations of the National Latino Tobacco Control Network (NLTCN) which currently conducts intervention research in California, across the U.S. and internationally in the area of tobacco prevention and control. NLTCN provides technical assistance and training for tobacco control among Hispanic/Latino agencies around the U.S.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL LATINO TOBACCO CONTROL NETWORK (NLTCN) The National Latino Tobacco Control Network (NLTCN) is an open information and support system for tobacco control and health disparities advocates and experts who want to become more effective in changing policies and social norms around tobacco control through the exchange of information and personal and institutional linkages. NLTCN produces newsletters, reports and other publications about best practices in tobacco control, and organizes events and training opportunities around the U.S. NLTCN’s website (www.latinotobaccocontrol.org) serves as a resource with links to repositories of tobacco control materials, curriculums and reports to help advocates do their work.

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