Schools Respond to the Rise of Student Vaping
Easy to conceal in hoodies and hands, vaping takes a foothold among youth. Schools look for solutions.
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Go to My Saved Content.Liz Burrows鈥檚 official job title is tobacco control coordinator聽at the health department in Oldham County, Kentucky, but these days聽she doesn鈥檛 spend much time worrying about tobacco: It鈥檚 all about vaping.
鈥淎 high school girl told me recently that it鈥檚 鈥榬eally easy鈥� to vape in class, and that it doesn鈥檛 belong to any one clique鈥攌ids in every group are doing it,鈥� said Burrows of the schools she visits in the Louisville suburbs to give talks. 鈥淲e worked so hard to reduce the smoking rate, and now it鈥檚 going back up.鈥�
Marketed as an alternative to help adults quit smoking tobacco, vaping鈥攐r inhaling聽vapor from an electronic cigarette鈥攈as skyrocketed among teens and tweens across the nation.
, e-cigarette use among high school and middle school students tripled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reports that聽traditional tobacco cigarettes. A 2017 National Institutes of Health study found that more than one in four聽聽reported vaping in the previous year, while 16.6 percent said they had vaped in the previous聽month. More than 6 percent of eighth graders also reported vaping in the previous month.
Lured by glamorized images of vaping on social media with hashtags like #VapeLife and #DoIt4Juul鈥擨nstagram contains 13.4 million #VapeLife posts鈥攎any kids seem unaware of the risks involved. A recent survey by the Truth Initiative found that聽 that vapor pods, which come in like gummy worms, cotton candy, and unicorn puke, contain highly addictive nicotine鈥攁 single pod containing 200 puffs聽can have聽just as much as a pack of Marlboros or Camels.
As vaping devices are increasingly showing up in school parking lots, bathrooms, and even classrooms, teachers and administrators are scrambling to address the problem. But it isn鈥檛 easy. Unlike their traditional counterparts, e-cigarettes are easy to buy online and conceal, and they don鈥檛 carry a strong smell. The popular brand Juul, which represents the majority of e-cigarette sales, looks like a USB drive and is small enough to hide in a shirtsleeve.
In response, here are some of the promising ways that schools and districts are trying to curb what Jonathan Winickoff, doctor and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium, has called a聽鈥�.鈥�
Vaping 101
Since e-cigarettes are still relatively new鈥攁nd one of the great lessons of the anti-tobacco campaigns was that punitive approaches don鈥檛 work well鈥攕chool administrators and health department officials say that giving teens and parents health information about vaping is critical to prevention. According to the , when high school seniors were asked what they thought they had consumed the last time they vaped, more half said 鈥渏ust flavoring.鈥�
鈥淭he perception adults and media give that e-cigarettes are harmless is a big part of our problem,鈥� said Valerie Phillips, a physical education聽teacher in Round Rock, Texas, with 19 years of experience. 鈥淜ids don鈥檛 understand what鈥檚 in it; they think it鈥檚 just flavored water vapor.鈥�
To counter the misconceptions, the nonprofit CATCH My Breath provides schools with a that teaches students what chemicals are in vaping pods and how they can be harmful to their health. Early studies indicate that some of the chemicals in vaping pods and cause a called popcorn lung.聽Students are also made aware of clever vaping marketing techniques and armed with strategies for avoiding the social media hype.
With talk of vaping on the rise in her district, Phillips incorporated the four CATCH My Breath vaping lessons directly into PE聽activities at her middle school. In one, sixth graders learned about the health impact of vaping chemicals like acetaldehyde, propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and nicotine, and then participated in a relay where they had to 鈥渘ame that chemical鈥� while racing the clock. CATCH My Breath lessons are available online.
SEL and Vaping
In hopes of curbing the widespread use of e-cigarettes in Orange County, California, educators are using a social and emotional learning (SEL) approach.
Run through the (TUPE) program, California鈥檚 anti-smoking education program, the lessons help students continue to develop SEL skills like self-regulation, problem solving, and communication that they can apply in situations where they might be inclined or feel pressure to vape.
These SEL lessons are part of TUPE鈥檚 four-part approach, which also includes information on vaping, a cessation hotline number, and student-led anti-smoking projects in their schools or communities.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e learning how to deal with social pressure, how to respond to family dynamics and stress,鈥� said Ryan Crowdis, the TUPE program manager for Orange County, which is currently running the program in eight聽area districts. 鈥淎ny young person can learn from that kind of information.鈥�
And when a student is caught vaping at school, a TUPE-trained school staff member talks the student through their decision-making process, examining what led them to vape to help put them on track to make better choices in the future.
Peer-to-Peer Education
Other districts are turning to their students for help.
After trying costly vaping detectors in bathrooms and strict consequences like suspensions with little success, Gregg Wieczorek, principal of Arrowhead High School in Milwaukee, decided to take a different tack. This fall聽he鈥檚 sending students to the seven feeder middle schools in greater Milwaukee to talk to the younger students about the dangers of vaping before they start.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that when the middle schoolers see this kid they looked up to on the basketball team saying, 鈥榁aping is bad for you聽and here鈥檚 why聽you shouldn鈥檛 do this,鈥� it might have more impact on them than the teachers or parents saying it,鈥� Wieczorek said.
Other communities are having students craft anti-vaping campaigns aimed at their peers. In Charles County, Maryland, students in the after-school program called the researched the health effects of vaping and then created a series of public service announcements聽that were used in televised morning announcements at area middle and high schools.
The Long Game
Evolving technology and new products like the smaller, less conspicuous Suorin Drop may make the vaping problem even more difficult to manage in the future. Public health officials in some states are advocating for stronger FDA regulation of vaping devices, such as raising the buying age to 21 or cracking down on online sales. Juul has promised to spend聽$30 million on youth prevention, including a school curriculum, but most tobacco and vaping preventionists are skeptical.
At a number of schools, staff are seeing a need to break down barriers between school and home life and partner with parents instead.
First thing in the morning, I had to Juul;聽that鈥檚 all I could think about.
Back in Oldham,聽students caught vaping are recommended to take a four-week class that parents also attend.聽And TUPE鈥檚 parent trainings in Orange County saw a big uptick last school year as more parents became aware of vaping.
At one school, a parent training that only had nine parents last year packed the room with more than 50 this year.聽TUPE鈥檚 Crowdis said that parents need to be warned that the nicotine addiction from vaping is a serious addiction. A student who spoke to parents at a session told them, 鈥淔irst thing in the morning, I had to Juul;聽that鈥檚 all I could think about.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 this whole culture. Kids are getting addicted to it, and it鈥檚 scary for young people,鈥� Crowdis said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 realize it starts a long road to addiction.鈥�