Let's Talk about Vaping
Updates & NEWS
Let's Talk About Vaping...
"Vaping is becoming more of a concern in (and out of) schools, recently. We are working on making it more of a curriculum focus in our health classes and are also looking at bringing in speakers around this topic.
Over half of the e-cigarette market share involves the device JUUL. The Juul works by heating up a cartridge containing oils to create vapor, which quickly dissolves into the air. Many JUULs look like a USB flash drive.
A ”pod” is placed in the JUUL to vape. One pod can contain as much nicotine as found in a pack of cigarettes. In addition to the negative health implications of nicotine, vaping often contains harmful chemicals. Some e-cigarettes contain toxic chemicals, including formaldehyde (used in embalming fluid), and ethylene glycol (used in antifreeze).
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health indicates that among Massachusetts high school youth, nearly half (44.8%) have used e-cigarettes, which was 27.8% in 2015. High school youth are much more likely to use e-cigarettes than adults. This has not been the case for cigarettes. While the current youth cigarette use rate in Massachusetts is just half of the adult use rate (7.7% vs. 14%,) the current youth e-cigarette use rate is more than 9X higher than the adult use rate (23.7% vs. 2.6%).
Some vaping devices enable students to vape THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) the active ingredient in marijuana. Marijuana has become much more potent. The average strength of marijuana in the US today is around 15-20% compared to about 1% in 1980. Vaping is often odorless. Both nicotine and marijuana are also harmful to the developing teenage brain.
Please refer to the following resources for additional information:
New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2JbG3lL
Wall Street Journal: https://on.wsj.com/2qfQop0
"The iPhone of e-cigarettes" | E-cigarettes.Surgeongeneral.gov | Getoutraged.org