Our top issues

In our fight to end youth and young adult nicotine addiction, we focus on the issues that matter most. We constantly monitor the latest topics and trends in commercial tobacco and substance use.

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Who we are

At Truth Initiative, we envision a future free from nicotine addiction—a future that fosters healthier lives and a more resilient nation. We are the nation’s largest nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empowering quitting for all.

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Research & resources

Get the latest facts and analyses on the most important issues related to smoking, vaping, nicotine and substance use.

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What we do

By driving behavior and policy change, we prevent addiction, increase quitting, reduce nicotine dependence, and expand cessation support and access. All backed by rigorous research and evaluation.

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Get involved

Join us in preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empowering quitting for all. Learn about how you can help create a future free from nicotine addiction through activism, scholarships, studies, and more. Let’s work together.

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Featured partnerships

We partner with states and territories and some of the best brands and organizations on the planet. Here are some of the ways we’ve joined forces.

Kaiser Permanente Building

Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente teamed up with Truth Initiative in October 2019 to help rally America’s teens and young adults to reject e-cigarettes through a National Day of Action. As one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans, Kaiser Permanente recognizes that the national youth e-cigarette use public health crisis requires urgent action. With the support of Kaiser Permanente, we engaged young people on college campuses and in communities across the U.S. to build awareness of the risks of e-cigarette use and inspire vape-free lives. More recently, Truth Initiative and Kaiser Permanente, in collaboration with the American Heart Association, launched a national youth vaping prevention curriculum called Vaping: Know the truth.

Learn more about Vaping: Know the truth

CVS Health Foundation

Truth Initiative and the CVS Health Foundation joined together to help historically black colleges and universities, community colleges and women’s colleges across the country implement comprehensive smoke- or tobacco-free campus policies. Through a process managed by Truth Initiative, colleges and universities can apply for grants to fund resources to help their schools go smoke- or tobacco-free. So far, Truth Initiative has awarded funding to more than 180 colleges.

Learn more about CVS and Truth Initiative
Screen grab of the Best Day Signing Day ad

NFL

Truth Initiative is glad to be on the same team as the NFL. As the league says: Football and community are twin pillars of the NFL. That’s why the NFL is helping Truth Initiative distribute its Truth About Opioids public education and prevention campaign through the NFL Network to help end the opioid epidemic in the U.S.

Learn more about the opioid epidemic
Pfizer Foundation Logo

The Pfizer Foundation

As part of Pfizer and The Pfizer Foundation’s $40 million commitment to help combat the global health effects of COVID-19 in the U.S. and around the world, The Pfizer Foundation helped Truth Initiative distribute its BecomeAnEX program to current tobacco users to help them quit.

*The Pfizer Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pfizer Inc. It is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions

Learn more about The Pfizer Foundation

Leidos

As part of its efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, Fortune 500 company Leidos is contributing to fund the research behind The Truth About Opioids, a truth public education campaign in collaboration with the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Ad Council. The Leidos donation is supporting the rigorous scientific research Truth Initiative uses in its campaign, which is aimed at helping young people understand the facts about opioids, the risk of addiction and their role in solving the crisis. 

Learn more about our partnership with Leidos
Girl viewing the vaping curriculum page on a laptop

D.C. Department of Health

Truth Initiative partnered with D.C. Health to reduce nicotine use among young people in the city. We launched a customized version of our proven-effective EX Program text support, equipped teachers with our prevention curriculum Vaping: Know the truth, and trained health care providers on tobacco use screening for youth. We also empowered young people eager to make their communities and campuses 100% tobacco-free. Truth Initiative is ready to partner with states and territories to provide a portfolio of solutions to address the on-going youth vaping and nicotine addiction crisis.

Learn more about Vaping: know the truth

BIGS® Sunflower Seeds

truth partnered with BIGS Sunflower Seeds to draw attention to how tobacco’s chemicals impact your taste buds and how sunflower seeds can help current smokers quit. As part of this collaboration, mini bags of “#ChewOnThis Smoking Kills Your Taste Buds” sunflower seeds were distributed nationwide at a variety of events.

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Epiphone

We worked with Epiphone on a custom-designed guitar for the Grammy Awards gift lounge. During the event, we offered celebrities like "Despacito" singer Luis Fonsi the option of keeping a custom guitar for themselves or signing and donating it to music programs in lower-income communities in states disproportionality affected by tobacco use.

Explore our Epiphone partnership

Vans

We partnered with Vans and Brooklyn-based graphic artist Kevin Lyons to release a limited-edition sneaker based on Lyons’ art that carried the message that everyone can use their voices and creativity to end smoking for good.

Read more about this partnership

Cotopaxi

truth and Cotopaxi joined forces to make positive changes in local communities and take a stand against tobacco. truth engaged participants at Questival events across the U.S., and a limited-edition co-branded daypack was designed by Brooklyn-based artist Kevin Lyons and distributed at the events and via Cotopaxi’s digital storefront.

Learn more about our Cotopaxi partnership

Petco

Pet specialty retailer Petco joined us to spread awareness about how dogs and cats are two times as likely to get cancer if their owners smoke. For a limited time, all Petco locations nationwide gave out free pet collar charms and tips on how to protect pets from the negative impact of tobacco.

Explore our partnership with Petco

Girl Scouts

We partnered with Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital in the greater Washington region to create the “Earth Defender” curriculum and engage more than 2,000 girls in the fight against tobacco. The curriculum teaches Girl Scouts how to become the generation to end smoking by taking a stand against the most polluted item in the world: cigarette butts. 

Learn more about our Girl Scouts partnership

Our mission is to prevent youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empower quitting for all. This is how we're doing.

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Get the latest facts and analyses on the most important issues in commercial tobacco and substance use.

Explore our research and resources