Portsmouth Prevention Coalition takes aim at vaping scourge

E-cigarettes more popular, more dangerous and easier to use than ever before, group says

By Jim McGaw
Posted 2/14/19

PORTSMOUTH — What should parents worry about most when it comes to their children and substance abuse? 

When that question was posed recently to Corey Silvia, the coordinator of …

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Portsmouth Prevention Coalition takes aim at vaping scourge

E-cigarettes more popular, more dangerous and easier to use than ever before, group says

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — What should parents worry about most when it comes to their children and substance abuse? 

When that question was posed recently to Corey Silvia, the coordinator of the Portsmouth Prevention Coalition (PPC), the first thing out of his mouth was neither marijuana, alcohol nor opioids.

“I think parents should be most concerned about vaping,” said Mr. Silvia, as Kara Jelley, the PPC’s youth program coordinator, nodded along. “The amount of people who have vaped or have used a vape device over the last 10 years has most likely doubled or tripled.”

Vaping, in which nicotine, marijuana or other drugs are ingested by electronic delivery, continues to be prevalent in the middle and high schools because it can be done without detection, and its real dangers are often unknown to users, they said.

The increase in local usage of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDs) was a lowlight of the spring 2018 substance abuse survey for Portsmouth, which the PPC presented to the Town Council on Jan. 28. For ninth- and 10th-graders in particular, the 30-day use rates of ENDs were called “alarming” in the report.

“ENDs are consistently above or near the highest substance that is used, which is most cases is marijuana,” Mr. Silvia said.

The PPC, armed with a recent five-year, $625,000 federal drug free communities (DFC) grant, is now combating the vaping scourge through a series of educational programs in the schools. 

Although vaping can be done through a number of devices, including inhalers that look just like the ones used by asthmatics, the most popular ENDs products among young people are manufactured by JUUL. Like many other vaping devices, JUUL sells replacement “pods” with a seemingly endless variety of “e-liquid” flavors that are marketed toward younger people, he said. 

“It’s the number-one threat because it’s super-easy to change out a pod,” said Mr. Silvia. “You can change it to whatever you want. I got a question the other day: Is it safe to vape essential oils? Which is mind-blowing to me because who would even think to vape lavender?”

Originally a cessation device

However, the chemicals kids are inhaling are definitely not always safe, he said. For starters, JUUL was originally intended as a smoking cessation device so it contains nicotine, which is highly addictive.

“(JUUL) recently got a massive investment from Marlboro,” Mr. Silvis said. “So when we think of smoking cessation, this is now a closed-circuit investment/moneymaking scheme.”

Added Ms. Jelley, “They’re trying to make their money back from all that they’ve lost. I don’t think people understand that this is Big Tobacco. I feel that they’re the guinea pigs and they don’t even know.”

Still, the product’s original intention has caused a problem with perceived risk: Youngsters see it as a safe alternative to cigarettes, Mr. Silvia said.

“There is truth to that, but only if you’re over the age of 25 when your brain is not developing any more,” he said. 

Another problem is that vaping devices are unregulated for now, so users don’t know exactly what they’re inhaling. They are used not only to dispense crystallized marijuana, can contain any number of chemicals including diesel fuel and formaldehyde, according to Ms Jelley. 

“They don’t know what’s in it because it doesn’t say that on the box,” she said.

And although JUUL claims it doesn’t sell products to anyone under 21 — Rhode Island prohibits the sale of cigarettes, tobacco and ENDs to those under 18 — youngsters can easily find these products on the internet, they said.

“We’re also seeing this stuff sold at little pick-and-pay places that may not really care,” said Mr. Silvia, adding that more ambitious users can even make their own vape juice. 

Easy to avoid detection

Ms. Jelley said it’s difficult to determine how much vaping is going on in the schools because students can use ENDs without being detected. In fact, there are even clothing products — sweatshirts, dresses, hats, backpacks — specifically designed to fool adults. Just Google “vaping clothes” and you’ll get a ton of links.

“Entering this job, I thought, ‘Oh, high school and middle school students? Piece of cake,’” said Mr. Silvia, who graduated from high school in 2012. “And then they’re like, ‘People are vaping through a sweatshirt.’ No one was that smart when I was in high school — to order on Amazon a vape product to hide anything.”

You don’t even need to buy special clothes, said Ms. Jelley. “Just blow some vape into the inside of your shirt or sweater and you can save it for later,” she said.

What’s being done

The PPC is fairly certain that whatever last year’s student survey on substance abuse says, youngsters are vaping at higher rates than reported.

“When it says over 90 percent of students at Portsmouth Middle School are choosing to not vape, that’s most likely wrong. I put those numbers on the board and the kids are laughing and saying, ‘That’s false,’” said Mr. Silvia.

“They’re saying the students lied on the survey,” added Ms. Jelley.

“Which is known,” said Mr. Silvia. “There’s a percent error, but what is it? Is it a 5-percent error, or a 10-percent error, which means a lot. In the next year or two, we will have more programming come out around vaping as a Coalition because the research is barely there. That is the last true uphill battle in prevention at the moment.”

Portsmouth Middle School Principal João Arruda recently asked the Coalition to do some programming around vaping, and the school’s new student assistant counselor presented information to all grades on Jan. 28.

“She explained how the developing adolescent brain is affected by any substances,” said Ms. Jelley. “I think all the kids were very engaged. That hopefully will be rolled out to parents in case they have questions that come up. That will be an ongoing conversation.” 

Students were also given the opportunity to submit any written questions they had, anonymously. Among their queries: What happens to my insides? What’s the history of it? Who created it and why? Is it regulated by the FDA? Why are these things projected toward kids?

“It was probably one of the most successful things we could have done, because now we know what the students wanted to know,” said Mr. Silvia.

While “scare tactics” were never used in the presentation, some students still expressed concerns about how vaping could impact their health, he said. 

“We had students come up to us and say, ‘Oh my God, how do I stop? I’m going to die,’” Mr. Silvia said. The student assistant counselor reassured the students they would be OK, and that if they had any questions they should contact her, he said.

At the high school, two students attended a conference in November hosted by Catch My Breath, an initiative by CVS and Catch Global Foundation to curb youth e-cigarette use, and they’re expected to present the information to fellow pupils.

“Kids learn from kids,” Mr. Silvia said. “There’s such a wealth of information that’s needed right now and there’s a lot of holes to fill in prevention work.”

Mr. Silvia said he’s also pushed the town’s juvenile hearing board to hear vape cases at PHS, which includes a streamlined process to help students kick the habit.

Portsmouth Prevention Coalition

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