Melissa Markegard, tobacco prevention coordinator at Fargo Cass Public Health, said the behaviors seen in high schools in the past have spread to high schools and now elementary schools.
“It just has this drip effect,” she said.
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Jason McCoy, tobacco prevention coordinator at Clay County Public Health, said it was double the 2017 number.
It’s even worse in Clay County, he said, where some school districts use daily among the 11th grade to about 43%.
“It’s going to be an overwhelming wave coming our way,” McCoy said.
Those who use tobacco paint a picture of nicotine addiction that has occurred earlier than ever; children as young as the third grade who use the harmless, easy-to-disguise devices to inhale a concentrated form of nicotine, mixed with alluring flavors.
Derek Johnson, school resource officer at Fargo Davies High School, said in one case, parents provided the vaping device to their child, not realizing it was a problem.
He said that students, full-time rather than remotely, are caught in a full-time way being caught; and always, more girls than boys.
“For every boy we’ll probably catch five females,” Johnson said.
Few children are interested in the traditional way of smoking – it’s about vape.
In his four years as SRO at Davies, Johnson said he confiscated only one pack of cigarettes.
The Juul reusable system was the first not to shed a smoke pool, making it popular with students who wanted to hide it, Johnson said.
Markegard said children in her class for tobacco education talk about how they evaporate with their parents in the car without knowing it, because they hide the device in their hoodie and keep the vapor in their lungs until there is nothing left to do. do not breathe.
In early 2020, a nationwide ban came into effect for many flavored e-cigarette products, including cartridges and pods, but did not apply to many other devices, including disposers.
These disposable products are furious, presented in a multitude of sweet, fruity and minty flavors with names like Skittles, Lucky Charms and Fruity Pebbles. Others are labeled similar to energy drinks, with names like Bad Bull and Bang.
Some of the new disposable fumes contain as many as 2,200 puffs, McCoy said. It amounts to as many as three packs of nicotine cigarettes.
He said a Moorhead high school student recently caught with a vape used the same amount of nicotine as in six packs of cigarettes a day.
“You’re starting to see how serious it is and how much we need to stand up and take a stand against these products,” McCoy said.
With the salt-based nicotine, the stimulant is absorbed faster.
“You get addicted so much faster, so it’s a challenging situation we’re in right now,” Markegard said.
Johnson said another problem with vaping is that a user never really knows what he is inhaling.
The regulation of the products can be minimal, broken and differs from city to city, state to state.
“The industry is moving so fast – faster than we can keep up,” he said.
Johnson said that when he found a first-year student at Fargo Davies with a vape, it was probably filled with flavored tobacco. Juniors and seniors caught with them usually use marijuana concentrates.
The use of marijuana in fumes is also increasing in the youth of Minnesota.
McCoy said it increased from about 11% in 2017 to 18% last year.
Vape products containing THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis, cannot be purchased locally in stores.
However, pre-loaded pods containing THC are sold in countries where marijuana can be used.
“They’re easy to get your hands on,” McCoy said.
He urges parents to look for a green leaf on their child’s vape, a common way to distinguish between nicotine and THC vape.
Parents need to understand the consequences of their children using these forms of concentrate, Johnson said.
A rolled marijuana cigarette can contain 8 to 10% THC. With concentrates, it is more than 90% THC, he said.
Children who use marijuana concentrates become ill and have lung problems, Johnson said.
The federal and state governments monitor these diseases, known as e-cigarette, or vaping, lung injury associated with the product, or (EVALI).
Vitamin E acetate, which is often used in THC fumes, is widely considered a safe nutritional supplement, but it can cause chemical burns in the lungs.
It is meant to be ingested through the stomach, not inhaled, Johnson said.
Changes in public policy are essential to reduce evaporation among the youth, McCoy said. When cities impose age restrictions and odor bans, he uses them dramatically.
As of April 27, 2021, the U.S. Postal Service will no longer email vaping products. Other delivery companies follow suit and cut one off for teens to get it.
Melissa Markegard, Fargo Cass Public Health Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, lists some of the most popular steam devices among teens in August 2019. At the time, health officials in Wisconsin and Illinois announced hospitalizations of more than a dozen teens and young adults associated with vaping . . Derek Murray / WDAY
Signs that a child is using a vape can be difficult to spot, even in the eye.
Parents can search for:
– Unusual, unknown items; vapes can look like focal point, erasers, lipstick, makeup compacts
-New electronic items that are plugged in or newly loaded
-New, sweet flavors you do not recognize
Signs of nicotine withdrawal may include:
Behavioral changes, including moodiness, agitation
-Poor performance at school, loss of interest in activities
-Anormal cough, throat clearing and shortness of breath
Nausea and vomiting, possible signs of nicotine poisoning known as nic-sick
Fargo Cass Public Health has launched a vaping education campaign called Spot the Signs, aimed at parents and children.
Parents can learn more about the signs of using vape and how children hide it.
Listen to things that seem normal but are not, Markegard said. Children can ask a friend to borrow a ‘book’ and promise to return it to the class.
“They do not lend a book to anyone. “They borrow a vape,” she said.
The campaign also challenges youth to spot signs of their own addiction and learn to understand their need for the product and what it means.
“We have students with panic and anxiety when they forget their vape at home,” she said.
Information about the new Fargo Cass Public Health campaign can be found on spotthesigns.net and in social media ads and on billboards.
Another option is a new text-to-stop rule for teens called My Life My Quit; a no pressure, no scandal program that is completely free.
“It’s about reaching them where they are and helping them stop when they’re ready,” McCoy said.