Vap­ing Education

Most of us are aware that cig­a­rettes are harm­ful to our health, but what about new and emerg­ing prod­ucts such as e‑cigarettes and oth­er vap­ing devices? We must edu­cate our­selves about this emerg­ing trend to pro­tect our kids from the influ­ence of the tobac­co and vap­ing industries.

Learn more about these prod­ucts, why they are harm­ful and resources to quit or pro­vide sup­port to youth who want to take the first step to becom­ing substance-free. 

What is vaping

What is vap­ing? Vap­ing is the act of inhal­ing and exhal­ing the aerosol (often called vapor) pro­duced by an e‑cigarette or sim­i­lar bat­tery-pow­ered device. 

What is an e‑cigarette? E‑cigarettes are bat­tery-pow­ered vapor­iz­ers that sim­u­late the action and sen­sa­tion of smoking.

What are oth­er names for e‑cigarettes? They are also known as e‑cigs, vape pens, e‑hookahs, e‑pipes, tanks, mods, vapes, elec­tron­ic nico­tine deliv­ery sys­tems, or ENDS, and more. Some peo­ple refer to vap­ing devices by their brand name such as JUUL, BO, Blu, and others.

How do e‑cigarettes work?

E‑cigarettes con­tain pre-filled pods or e‑liquids/​e‑juices the user adds to the device. E‑liquids gen­er­al­ly con­sist of propy­lene gly­col, glyc­erin, water, nico­tine, and fla­vor­ings. Many of these pods and e‑liquids come in fruit and can­dy fla­vors that appeal to youth.

E‑cigarettes pro­duce an aerosol, com­mon­ly called vapor, which users inhale from the device and exhale. 

Recharge­able e‑cigarettes often look like small elec­tron­ic devices such as a USB stick. Com­mon brand names are JUUL, Bo, and myblu. They fre­quent­ly are sold with pre-filled car­tridges or pods.

Dis­pos­able e‑cigarettes often appear like actu­al, fil­ter cig­a­rettes in both shape and col­or­ing. Com­mon brand names include Zig Zag, Vapor4Life, V2, and White Cloud.

Many types of e‑cigarettes are recharge­able, except for dis­pos­able e‑cigarettes which are dis­posed of after the ini­tial charge of the bat­tery is depleted.

E‑cigarettes and oth­er vap­ing devices are con­sid­ered either open or closed sys­tems. In open sys­tems, the user adds the e‑liquid (com­mon­ly referred to as e‑juice). In closed sys­tems, the user uses pre-filled car­tridges or pods. The vap­ing devices con­vert the e‑liquids into an inhal­able aerosol.

E‑liquids/​juices come in thou­sands of fla­vors includ­ing choco­late, cot­ton can­dy, fruit punch, gum­my bear, banana, peach, lime, and many oth­ers. Fla­vors are often cit­ed as the main rea­son youth try these products.

What does the e‑cigarettes contain?

The aerosol can con­tain harm­ful and poten­tial­ly harm­ful sub­stances, including:

• Nico­tine
• Ultra­fine par­ti­cles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs
• Fla­vor­ing such as diacetyl, a chem­i­cal linked to a seri­ous lung disease
• Volatile organ­ic compounds
• Can­cer-caus­ing chemicals
• Heavy met­als such as nick­el, tin, and lead

Accord­ing to the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion, e‑cigarettes are not safe for youth, young adults, preg­nant women, or adults who do not cur­rent­ly use tobac­co prod­ucts. E‑cigarettes have not been approved by the FDA as a smok­ing ces­sa­tion device and addi­tion­al research is need­ed to help under­stand long-term health effects of e‑cigarette use.

Sec­ond­hand vape — Accord­ing to the Sur­geon Gen­er­al, the aerosol from e‑cigarettes is not harm­less. It can con­tain harm­ful and poten­tial­ly harm­ful chem­i­cals, includ­ing nico­tine; ultra­fine par­ti­cles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs; fla­vor­ing such diacetyl, a chem­i­cal linked to a seri­ous lung dis­ease; volatile organ­ic com­pounds such as ben­zene, which is found in car exhaust; and heavy met­als, such as nick­el, tin, and lead.

Oth­er Harms — Due to nico­tine con­tent, e‑liquids are dan­ger­ous to small chil­dren and pets. Defec­tive e‑cigarette bat­ter­ies have caused fires and explo­sions, some of which have result­ed in seri­ous injuries.

Risks spe­cif­ic to Teens:

Accord­ing to the Sur­geon Gen­er­al, because the brain isn’t ful­ly devel­oped until the mid 20s, youth and young adults are unique­ly at risk for long-term, long-last­ing effects of expos­ing their devel­op­ing brains to nicotine.

Risks include nico­tine addic­tion, mood dis­or­ders, and per­ma­nent low­er­ing of impulse con­trol. Nico­tine also changes the way synaps­es are formed, which can harm the parts of the brain that con­trol atten­tion and learning.

Nico­tine can also prime the ado­les­cent brain for addic­tion to oth­er sub­stances. E‑cigarette use among youth and young adults is strong­ly linked to the use of oth­er tobac­co prod­ucts such as reg­u­lar cig­a­rettes, cig­ars, hookah, and smoke­less tobacco.

Due to changes in the brain, quit­ting is hard­er for those who start at a young age. Pre­ven­tion is key.

Many peo­ple specif­i­cal­ly ask if e‑cigarettes can be used to vape mar­i­jua­na. The answer is yes. Mar­i­jua­na can be vaped in open sys­tems that require the user to add the e‑juice. Closed sys­tems (those that use pre-filled pods) can also be altered to vape sub­stances oth­er than nicotine.

Reg­u­lar use of mar­i­jua­na dur­ing ado­les­cence may result in: 

• Learn­ing problems
• Mem­o­ry issues
• Future use of alco­hol, tobac­co and oth­er drugs
• Low­er math and read­ing scores
• Men­tal health issues, such as impaired emo­tion­al devel­op­ment, depres­sion, anx­i­ety and psy­chot­ic symp­toms (not know­ing what is real, hal­lu­ci­na­tions and paranoia)

THC, or tetrahy­dro­cannabi­nol, is the chem­i­cal respon­si­ble for most of mar­i­jua­na’s psy­cho­log­i­cal effects and acts much like the cannabi­noid chem­i­cals made nat­u­ral­ly by the body, accord­ing to the Nation­al Insti­tute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Sup­port for Parents

Giv­en the growth of mar­i­jua­na use and vap­ing among Amer­i­can youth, it’s a good idea to explore your teen’s views on vap­ing and per­cep­tions of the risks.

• Have con­ver­sa­tions often. Before any talk, it helps to be able to share facts, but don’t assume that an infor­ma­tion down­load to your child will trans­late into healthy behaviors.
• Look for good oppor­tu­ni­ties to have a dis­cus­sion. You can do this when pass­ing a vape shop, smelling mar­i­jua­na on the street, see­ing some­one vap­ing on TV or in per­son or see­ing one of the ads for vapes.
• Try to lis­ten, rather than give a lec­ture. Open-end­ed ques­tions can be a great way to get your child’s per­spec­tive, i.e. ​“I under­stand that some kids are vap­ing mar­i­jua­na. What are your thoughts about it?” If you know they are already vap­ing mar­i­jua­na, you might ask ​“What does vap­ing mar­i­jua­na or THC oil do for you?” Per­haps it’s a way to fit in, han­dle social anx­i­ety or address bore­dom. Get to the root of ​“why.”
• Set clear expec­ta­tions. Express your under­stand­ing of the risks, but also why a per­son may want to vape. Share why you don’t want him/​her vap­ing, and remem­ber, it’s impor­tant to avoid scare tac­tics. Be honest.
• Teach refusal skills. It’s like­ly that your teen or young adult will be intro­duced to vap­ing mar­i­jua­na by a friend or old­er sib­ling. It helps to rehearse what he/​she will say if that happens.
• Have your loved one talk to oth­er trust­ed adults who can rein­force your mes­sage. Some­times, mes­sages com­ing from your pedi­a­tri­cian, school coun­selor, favorite aunt or uncle, etc. can be more impactful.
• Mod­el healthy behav­iors. If you come home from work and dis­cuss what a tough day it’s been while pop­ping open a beer, pour­ing a glass of wine or smok­ing a joint, you are con­vey­ing this is how you han­dle stress. It’s health­i­er for your child — and you — if you take a walk with the dog or a bath or go for a run rather than turn to sub­stances as stress busters.

Sources & Resources: 

Truth Ini­tia­tive: https://​truthini​tia​tive​.org/​n​e​w​s​/​f​l​a​v​o​r​e​d​-​t​o​b​a​c​c​o​-​u​s​e​-​a​m​o​n​g​-​y​o​u​t​h​-​a​n​d​-​y​o​u​n​g​-​a​dults

Unit­ed States Sur­geon Gen­er­al: https://e‑cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/

Nation­al Insti­tutes of Health: https://​www​.dru​gabuse​.gov/​p​u​b​l​i​c​a​t​i​o​n​s​/​f​a​m​i​l​y​-​c​h​e​c​k​u​p​/​i​n​t​r​o​d​u​ction

Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion:https://​www​.cdc​.gov/​t​o​b​a​c​c​o​/​i​n​f​o​g​r​a​p​h​i​c​s​/​youth

“Elec­tron­ic Cig­a­rettes and Vap­ing”, UCLA School of Med­i­cine: https://​www​.youtube​.com/​w​a​t​c​h​?​v​=​9​d​Z​S​_​R​niak0

For Quit­ting Sup­port: 1 – 866-QUIT-YES

Free helpline for par­ent sup­port through Part­ner­ship for Drug-Free Kids: 1 – 855-DRUGFREE