The hidden side of vaping among teens
In a time not as long ago as one might think, smoking was the enemy to befalln among teenagers, at school and at home. Years later, it is the perceived "cool, beautiful and smelly" phenomenon of vaping that is hitting today's generation of 12 to 17 year olds and the impacts – as insidious as they are – can even be felt in academic success.
Determined to raise awareness of this reality among the school community, parents and young people, the Conseil québécois sur le tabac et la santé (CQTS) is taking part in several initiatives, including its Smoke-Free Generation plan, deployed in some fifty institutions, including recently at École Sainte-Famille / Les Trois-Chemins, in Thurso, a first in the Outaouais.
"The situation is worrying when you consider that in less than six years, there are five times more young people who vape and that one in three do so regularly in the fourth and fifth secondary. [...] There may be impacts on the development of the brain, there may be problems with concentration, regulation of emotions, learning disabilities too. In some cases, it is even mentioned that it promotes the onset of cognitive disorders, such as anxiety and depression. All this is a beautiful mix that makes that for academic success, even more so in a pandemic context, it is all the more worrying, "says the executive director of the organization, Annie Papageorgiou.
The latter recalls that this product has been presented as "a lifestyle", including to young people, who do not necessarily measure all the consequences and for whom a lot of education remains to be done because one often feels infallible.
"Young people tell us: we want to be cool but we quickly realize that it's no longer cool to vape because it's like a crutch, there is no more freedom. For our teens, it's important to be free. So it adds weight. It's excessively expensive as well. There are young girls on the ground who told me that they vaped in their bed, in their room, it's at any time. [...] It's not easy for anyone to get rid of an addiction, and that's what strikes them, while then they are a little left to themselves," she notes.
In the vicinity of several high schools, smoking electronic cigarettes has become commonplace for many teens.
"What he did not forget is that the tool is interesting and well presented. It's beautiful, it's technological, it tastes good, it smells good. All things that are not blamed on the vaping industry but blamed on the cigarette industry. Knowing that the CQTS is committed to the fight against tobacco, that we represented the 100,000 victims of tobacco against tobacco companies and that we won the class action, naively we thought: will knowledge about cigarettes be transferred to vaping? We realize that no. The industry has been very clever
about how to position the tool," says Papageorgiou.
Determined to raise awareness of this reality among the school community, parents and young people, the Conseil québécois sur le tabac et la santé (CQTS) is taking part in several initiatives, including its Smoke-Free Generation plan, deployed in some fifty institutions, including recently at École Sainte-Famille / Les Trois-Chemins, in Thurso, a first in the Outaouais.
"The situation is worrying when you consider that in less than six years, there are five times more young people who vape and that one in three do so regularly in the fourth and fifth secondary. [...] There may be impacts on the development of the brain, there may be problems with concentration, regulation of emotions, learning disabilities too. In some cases, it is even mentioned that it promotes the onset of cognitive disorders, such as anxiety and depression. All this is a beautiful mix that makes that for academic success, even more so in a pandemic context, it is all the more worrying, "says the executive director of the organization, Annie Papageorgiou.
The latter recalls that this product has been presented as "a lifestyle", including to young people, who do not necessarily measure all the consequences and for whom a lot of education remains to be done because one often feels infallible.
"Young people tell us: we want to be cool but we quickly realize that it's no longer cool to vape because it's like a crutch, there is no more freedom. For our teens, it's important to be free. So it adds weight. It's excessively expensive as well. There are young girls on the ground who told me that they vaped in their bed, in their room, it's at any time. [...] It's not easy for anyone to get rid of an addiction, and that's what strikes them, while then they are a little left to themselves," she notes.
In the vicinity of several high schools, smoking electronic cigarettes has become commonplace for many teens.
"What he did not forget is that the tool is interesting and well presented. It's beautiful, it's technological, it tastes good, it smells good. All things that are not blamed on the vaping industry but blamed on the cigarette industry. Knowing that the CQTS is committed to the fight against tobacco, that we represented the 100,000 victims of tobacco against tobacco companies and that we won the class action, naively we thought: will knowledge about cigarettes be transferred to vaping? We realize that no. The industry has been very clever
about how to position the tool," says Papageorgiou.
Principal Hélène Contant, Assistant Principal Anne Meunier and addiction worker Michelle Gray with students from École Sainte-Famille / Aux-Trois-Chemins, Dylan Arseneault, Jason Bigelow, Benajmin Guidon Labelle and Eloyk Lacouline.
THE LAW, ÉTIENNE RANGER"A DUTY OF EDUCATION"
Faced with the magnitude of this phenomenon with sneaky consequences, the Sainte-Famille / Aux-Trois-Chemins school, which has 220 students, has decided to join the Smoke-Free Generation movement this fall.
"It's present here as elsewhere and we wanted to promote healthy lifestyle habits among our students. We think that we have a duty of education, not just instruction or promotion of qualification, of graduation. We want to intervene as prevention. It's not a majority, but there's always a group that tends to get together at breaks and lunchtime to vape. [...] This project allows us to raise awareness with turnkey workshops. It creates group discussions. The beneficial side is that some people say: I didn't know that, so I'm not interested anymore. There is a lack of knowledge," says the school's principal, Hélène Contant.
Eliminating flavours
The CQTS believes that it is high time that vaping was regulated with regulations, apart from the maximum nicotine concentration of 20 mg/mL set by the federal government, for example by eliminating flavours.
"We are failing a little bit in our duty now. We know that flavours are the entry tool, the initiation for teenagers," says Annie Papageorgiou.
The Smoke-Free Generation plan is a "personalized support adapted to the reality of each school" with the aim of surveying the field, doing prevention and providing students and staff with tools "that correspond to their needs".
"Young people are influenceable, among others with Instagram and Facebook. It's attractive to them, there are plenty of colors. Many parents buy a vape for their teen thinking that they prefer vaping to cigarettes. This is not a good idea. What they don't know is that there are chemicals in the liquid in it," says addiction worker Michelle Gray.
The CQTS also invites parents to turn to its www.parlonsenmaintenant.ca site to fully understand the phenomenon of vaping and have advice to open a benevolent discussion with their teens.
"We tend to think that everything happens at school, but if at school they hear a message and they go home and hear the same message again, I think we do our job well," concludes Papageorgiou.
The Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health is campaigning for a better regulation of vaping.
THE LAW, SIMON SÉGUIN-BERTRANDSome facts and figures
• One in three vaping students in secondary four and fifth
• The consumption of vaping products among young people has increased fivefold since 2013, from 4% to 21%
(tobacco has increased from 12% to 9%)
• 30% of high school students vape almost every day
• 83% of young vapers believe that e-cigarettes pose a moderate or high health risk if vaping regularly (92% of non-vapers think so)
• 72% of teens are given the products by friends (39% ask a third to get them)
• Vaping affects learning abilities and emotion regulation; it can cause memory problems and difficulty concentrating, among other things
Source: Conseil québécois sur le tabac et la santé (CQTS) and Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ)
THE LAW, SIMON SÉGUIN-BERTRANDSome facts and figures
• One in three vaping students in secondary four and fifth
• The consumption of vaping products among young people has increased fivefold since 2013, from 4% to 21%
(tobacco has increased from 12% to 9%)
• 30% of high school students vape almost every day
• 83% of young vapers believe that e-cigarettes pose a moderate or high health risk if vaping regularly (92% of non-vapers think so)
• 72% of teens are given the products by friends (39% ask a third to get them)
• Vaping affects learning abilities and emotion regulation; it can cause memory problems and difficulty concentrating, among other things
Source: Conseil québécois sur le tabac et la santé (CQTS) and Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ)
DANIEL LEBLANC
The Law
The hidden side of teen vaping | | Health | News The Law - Gatineau, Ottawa (ledroit.com)
The Law
The hidden side of teen vaping | | Health | News The Law - Gatineau, Ottawa (ledroit.com)