Kalispell School Board learns about vaping crisis
FILE - In this April 23, 2014 file photo, a man smokes an electronic cigarette in Chicago. A large government survey released Thursday, June 15, 2017, suggests the number of U.S. high school and middle school students using electronic cigarettes fell to 2.2 million last year, from 3 million the year before. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
Amid rising national concerns about teenagers and vaping, Kalispell pediatrician Lynn Dykstra addressed the Kalispell School Board about e-cigarette use among young people on Tuesday at Flathead High School.
“This is truly an epidemic,” Dykstra said. “It’s the largest substance abuse increase documented in 40 years. It’s phenomenal.”
She pointed to statistics that showed a 78% rise in high schoolers’ use of vaping and e-cigarette products between 2017 and 2018. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 25% of 12th graders are now vaping nicotine products, as well as 20% of 10th-graders and 10% of eighth-graders.
“It’s really a teen phenomenon,” Dykstra said, adding that much of the progress made in reducing teen cigarette usage has been cut into by e-cigarettes.
“This is just an incredible statement on where we came with cigarettes and where we’re going with vaping. We’re right back to where we started, which is really, really sad.”
Dykstra’s presentation highlighted the marketing tactics e-cigarette companies use to attract teens to their products. She said recent advertising campaigns by companies like Juul “were 100% targeted at teens.”
Dykstra showed an ad by Juul where the model was clearly mimicking pop star Ariana Grande. “She’s in the same position, she’s got her hair in the same way. These are definitely directed at teenagers,” Dykstra said.
She said “flavors are one of the main reasons teens are doing this,” showing a slide that demonstrated flavors such as “apple peach” and “strawberry melon.” But Dykstra emphasized that these products still contain nicotine.
Another deceptive product is the “health vape,” which advertises effects such as boosting the user’s immune system, energizing the user or helping the user get to sleep. Dykstra said her son asked her why he could not try the latter, as it contains melatonin, a supplement he was already using.
“Well, just because you ingest something doesn’t mean that it’s safe to inhale it,” she said. “It’s a totally different way that your body’s absorbing it and it’s very differently processed in your lungs than it is in your stomach.”
Juul causes the most headaches for schools and health advocates, Dykstra said, as the company’s products make up 75% of the vaping market. The classic Juul vaping device looks like an ordinary flash drive.
“Kids walk around with them all the time in school, they’re very subtle,” she said.
Dykstra stressed many students do not understand the health risks of vaping. She said one Juul pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes, and it is not uncommon for a user to go through one pod a day.
Sixty-three percent of young users don’t believe the product contains nicotine, Dykstra said. She added that “while 87% of teens say smoking is risky, 50% say vaping is risky.”
Dykstra said there is no shortage of risks when it comes to vaping. Nicotine is known to be detrimental to teens’ brain development, while the vaping device itself “is a gateway to vaping other things,” such as marijuana.
“Their [teens’] neuronal connections are still forming, and your neural connections are still forming until you’re about 24, 25 years old,” Dykstra said, “and if we keep reinforcing those addictive pathways, we’re just going to strengthen those neuronal pathways and those kids are much more easily addicted to nicotine than a 40-year old adult would be.”
Addressing the recent epidemic of acute lung injury associated with e-cigarette and vaping products, Dkystra said these illnesses are likely caused by acetate, a “vitamin E thickener,” causing these illnesses. Nationwide, there have been 2,200 confirmed cases and 48 deaths attributed to this acute lung injury.
When a board member asked if vaping is still safer than using cigarettes, Dykstra said it is still too early to say.
“There probably are fewer carcinogens,” she said, “But … if you’re driving down the street at 100 mph, does it matter whether you’re wearing your seatbelt or not? They’re both unsafe, one’s just a little less unsafe.”
Reporter Colin Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or cgaiser@dailyinterlake.com
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