PINEDALE – The Food and Drug Administration

announced in November that teenage

use of electronic nicotine delivery systems, or

ENDS, skyrocketed by 78 percent from 2017

to 2018. This alarming trend led to an “uptick

in overall tobacco use” in 2018, “reversing

previous declines” in teenage consumption of

tobacco, the agency said.

According to the FDA’s National Youth

Tobacco Survey, 20.8 percent of high school

students used e-cigarettes, vapes, and other

ENDS products in 2018, up from 11.7 percent

in 2017 and only 1.5 percent in 2011.

These statistics led the American Medical

Association to call the rise in teenage vaping

an “epidemic” in a press release on Nov.

19. The FDA announced a “sweeping antitobacco

effort” to “reduce underage vaping,”

the Washington Post reported on Nov. 15.

The FDA’s proposals include limiting

the sale of e-cigarettes to stores that restrict

underage entry or have areas that are not accessible

to people under 18. The FDA also

pledged to “step up verification” for online

sales of e-cigarettes.

Unregulated

Until the FDA’s proposals are acted on,

or local governments establish ordinances,

the sales of vaping products are a big business

with few regulations for industry leaders

like the company JUUL. Forbes reported on

Dec. 20 that tobacco giant Altria purchased a

35-percent stake in JUUL, worth $38 billion.

JUUL founders James Monsees and Adam

Bowen became overnight billionaires.

“The FDA doesn’t regulate these companies,”

said Pinedale High School Principal

Brian Brisko. “We don’t really know all the

chemicals that are in these things.”

Most vaping cartridges and bottles of ejuice

refills sold at local gas stations do have

labels stating they contain nicotine. Some

even contain warnings that nicotine is “addictive.”

But warnings and labels vary in size and

are not always in plain view. A 2018 report by

the nonprofit Truth Initiative stated that “63

percent of JUUL users” were not even aware

that a JUUL pod “always contains nicotine.”

Lax regulations have also led to labeling

that misrepresents the amount of nicotine in

a product. The National Institutes for Health

compiled studies in 2014 that looked into the

chemical composition of e-cigarettes. The

studies found that the nicotine levels listed on

products often differed significantly from the

nicotine that was actually tested in the product.

A few studies reported that this “deviation

from the label” was a problem with 100

percent of ENDS products tested.

Marketing to minors

On its website, JUUL claims to provide a

“satisfying alternative to cigarettes” to “improve

the lives of the world’s one billion adult

smokers.” But many believe that the companies

that sell ENDS are actively marketing to

minors, a statement that companies deny on

their websites.

The Centers for Disease Control reported a

direct correlation between the rise in underage

vaping with a rise in advertising spending by

ENDS companies. When ENDS advertising

was below $20 million in 2011, the amount

of teenagers who used vapes in “the past 30

days” was around 1 percent. In 2014, e-cigarette

advertising spending rose above $120

million and the number of youths using ecigarettes

grew to more than 10 percent.

Brisko showed images of ENDS products

from a PowerPoint presentation the high

school uses to educate students about vaping.

Bottles of e-juice refills look like cotton

candy dispensers, soda bottles and juice

boxes. Flashy flourescent colors and letters

announce fruity flavors of nicotine-infused

juice with names ripped off of popular soda

and candy brands.

“That is not marketing to a 35-year-old,”

said Brisko.

Vapes come in a variety of flavors like

mint, candy, fruit and chocolate that make

them more attractive than traditional cigarettes,

the FDA states. According to a survey

done by the agency in 2013-2014, 81 percent

of “youth e-cigarette users” cited the “availability

of appealing flavors” as a primary reason

for use.

ENDS are also becoming a part of youth

culture. Pinedale School Resources Officer

Scott Winer recently spoke to a group of

freshmen who said vaping was popular at the

high school because “everybody thinks it’s

cool.” Social media is filled with kids doing

tricks with vapes, Winer added. A YouTube

video featuring a young man who could pass

for a high school student called “Vape God”

blowing incredible shapes out of e-vapor has

gone viral with millions of views.

Winer said that there are also videos online

instructing people on how to take apart vape

cartridges and load them with marijuana or

basically any other chemical.

Getting in by deception

“Vaping is harder to enforce and detect at

school than alcohol, cigarettes or marijuana,”

said Skyline Academy Principal Eric Makelky.

“Most kids who try it do it because it’s cool, or

use it for stress, as a coping mechanism, and

then become dependent.”

Vaping cartridges are designed to look

like ordinary items such as USB ports, pens

and even asthma inhalers. Vapes often emit

a pleasant fruit-flavored scent, unlike the

strong odors that can cling to a person after

smoking a cigarette, said Winer. Brisko

added that some of the newer cartridges do

not even emit smoke.

“These devices are so easily concealed,”

Winer said. “A kid can just slip it into his

elbow and take a hit.”

“Vaping is happening in classrooms, hallways,

buses, locker rooms,” Makelky said.

Winer stated that between 20 and 30 percent

of students at Pinedale High School

were “regularly using” ENDS. He added that

vaping was a widespread problem affecting

“all demographics” of students.

“Many parents are caught off guard when

their kids are caught vaping,” said Makelky.

“They say ‘my kid would never do that.’ But

they need to know about the prevalence of

the problem. All kids are doing it.”

“The numbers are pretty high and pretty

prevalent in our schools,” Brisko said. He

added that while he has only had two disciplinary

issues over cigarettes in the last two

years, he has dealt with 16 separate ENDS

incidents in the same time period. Makelky

said that he had only seen cigarettes at school

once in the past year, while ENDS paraphernalia

were showing up like “PEZ dispensers.”

Makelky stated that some ENDS products

were entering schools through what he called

a “trickle-down” effect.

“Mom or dad are trying to quit smoking

with vapes,” he said. “The kids take them

from their parents and bring them to school.”

Winer added that ENDS were easily available

for order online. Companies like JUUL

have a pop-up on their website asking consumers

to self-report their age. Beyond that,

there is nothing to stop a minor from continuing

into the website to order products.

Education

“This problem is so big,” said Winer.

“There is no scientific data out there about

what’s going to happen to these kids in 20

years due to the effects of vaping. It’s scary

as heck. We don’t know anything about it because

of how unregulated (the ENDS companies)

are.”

Almost all ENDS products do contain nicotine.

According to a study published by the

American Journal of Public Health in 2017,

99 percent of e-cigarette products sold had

nicotine in them.

“Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm

brain development, which continues until

about age 25,” the Centers for Disease Control

states.

Brisko stated that the nicotine level in one

teaspoon of e-juice is roughly equivalent to

smoking three packs of cigarettes. Winer

added that a single JUUL pod contained

enough nicotine to equal 16 cigarettes.

Vapes can contain other dangerous chemicals

including diacetyl, Winer said, a chemical

that causes popcorn lung.

Makelky, Brisko and Winer stressed that

the school district is a smoke-free campus,

and that this includes vaping. Students caught

with ENDS products can face disciplinary

action and can be charged as a minor in possession

if they are under 18. Winer stated that

the district has test kits to detect if an innocent-

looking object in fact contains nicotine.

Brisko added that if students came to administrators

or counselors in need of help

with addiction problems, avenues are “readily

available” for students in need. Makelky

said that another resource available for students

is a “great” free program provided by

the state called Quit Wyoming. The program

offers addiction coaching, nicotine patches,

gum and individual quit plans.

While the problem of vaping is constantly

changing due to the lack of regulations and

can seem daunting, Brisko said that the

schools are working to educate students,

teachers and parents.

Brisko said that administrators are teaming

up with Deputy Winer and the high school

health teacher, Jennifer Wilkinson, to organize

lessons about the known risks of vaping

for all grade levels either through health class

or in other settings. Brisko added that during

parent-teacher night, classes on vaping

were offered to parents and information was

handed out. The district is also working on

training teachers, he said.

“This is a nationwide problem,” he said.

“The biggest thing we can do as administrators

is to make people more aware of the

problem. We need to get the message out on

the dangers it presents.”

“This is a big problem, and I encourage

parents to talk to their kids and talk to the

school about vaping,” said Makelky.