Grade six students at St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School in Red Deer spent the morning watching an anti-tobacco theatre presentation.  

Butt Ugly is a peer led performance that tours Central Alberta schools combining comedy while helping to squash misinformation and prevent youth from picking up smoking.  

Co-founder Tanya Ryga said this is the 22nd year of the program and the demand continues to increase.

“We’ve also had proper third party evaluations which show that children who see Butt Ugly are more likely to say no to offers of tobacco than those who didn’t,” Ryga said.

The program also included an anti-vaping message in the performance to help debunk myths that vaping doesn’t contain nicotine and is less harmful.

“It’s not hard to know who’s behind that misinformation,” Ryga explained.

“Until Health Canada decides to regulate it more specifically, than we just treat it as harmful along with all the other characters cigarettes and chew.”

After the presentation the 11 and 12 year olds were split into groups where they participated in an anti-tobacco workshop.

What makes their program unique Ryga added is that it's peer led and thanks to a partnership with the college they've been able to take Butt Ugly as far as Airdrie and Wetaskiwin.