Parents of teens...is vaping common in your community? (Inspired by pot thread)

[China Expat]

Yes.....it's everywhere

 

[LuvOrlando]

Raised my family in suburban PA and it started with some of their friends families allowing hookah at firepits then, of course, they all blossomed into vaping and some other things, much worse things. It is a big problem in PA.

These days, a lot of the vape in the city is weed so best guess is these kids are being trained on one to graduate to the other. It's not a great situation.

BTW, whatever happened to that whole vape popcorn lung thing back in late 2019? DId that all just go away or were the Drs wrong and it was early cases of Covid made worse by vape? I was wondering recently how much it all blurred together.

 

[MamaMermaid]

My son is 5 so there's no vaping happening in our house but I am a high school teacher and see it every single day. It's a serious problem.

 

[longboard55]

you can't vape and E bike at the same time so the answer is no

 

[BrianL]

Not a parent, but honestly it seems liek anybody that I know who is under 30 vapes. Granted that's not a ton of people, but a pretty close friend and her entire circle does.

 

[MrsPete]

Retired high school teacher /now a substitute: Yes, it's a huge problem in high schools, and it's almost impossible to catch. Vapes are disguised as pens or lipsticks. Girls push them up inside the tampon vending machine /leave them for friends to use. I've found them taped under desks in my classroom. Yet I know I've "missed them" lying right on students' desks because they're made to blend in.

Vaping manufacturers are definitely targeting teens. They make, for example, hoodie sweatshirts with tiny vapes built into the string in the neck -- a kid could literally vape in class, and if the teacher noticed at all, she'd think he was chewing on a string.

I'm foolishly blind to such things, so I first learned about vaping through a presentation from our school nurse -- she scared me. She told us teachers'll send kids to her office because they're acting "weird", and she'll find that the kid has a heartbeat of 200+/minute. She'll be terrified, and the kid'll say, "I feel great! So light! Like I'm flying!" She says every high school in our county has sent multiple kids to the hospital because of vaping. She also says vaping is more dangerous than smoking because kids can take in more than the proper dosage (poor word choice, I suspect) at once. She showed us a video of a kid who'd just vaped in the bathroom passing out in the lunch line.

Yet when our high school ran a program to inform students about the dangers of vaping, my students ridiculed the program, saying the health care professionals didn't know what they were talking about.

If you have children, you should definitely talk to them. The message they're getting is that vaping is harmless -- and that's a big, fat lie.

On the positive side, essentially no high school students smoke cigarettes any more. I'm sensitive to the smell, and I used to always know which of my students were smokers. Off-topic, but if students ask, "Do you smoke?", they don't mean tobacco cigarettes.

 

[DLgal]

In our area it's not a big problem. I know it happens and there is a subset of teens who do it, but it's not rampant and overwhelming. Our entire city is non smoking, to include vaping, so you don't actually SEE it anywhere public. I see teens hanging out in groups and I never see them vaping. I do know they like to smoke pot in the bicycle trail underpasses after school. I've seen (and smelled) that. But again, we are talking about a small number of kids.

I do recall a couple years ago a letter coming home from the school superintendent that mentioned that vaping is prohibited on school grounds and it was a reminder for parents to be aware that students were being caught with vape pens, but I haven't heard anything since. This was pre pandemic.

 

[Mintycake]

It doesn’t seem to be a big thing in my area - Toronto. My daughter says just a few teens vape at her HS. It probably differs from school to school, but I generally don’t notice teens vaping.

I'm in Toronto too and I think it's everywhere but not teens - it's adults.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Not a parent but yes vaping is big here. I mainly see people vape in parking lots, like the grocery store, movie theater and malls. It's not just teenagers but adults too.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Not a parent but yes vaping is big here. I mainly see people vape in parking lots, like the grocery store, movie theater and malls. It's not just teenagers but adults too.

Yes indoors too. Most times you can’t even see the vape pen because it’s smaller then your hand and is covered easily.

What I notice is the teens are vaping tobacco. The adults are vaping weed or weed oils.

 

[amylevan]

It’s a big issue here (Pa). A 4th grader in my DD’s class was even caught in a bathroom vaping in the spring. Let that sink in…4th grade…..where does a 4th grader even get a pen?

The kids do not smoke cigarettes at all though, so there is that.

 

[darnheather]

Just asked the 17 year old and she said not a lot but has smelled it in the bathroom. I'm in law school and a lot of the 20 somethings vape, smoke, or use some form of tobacco.

 

[CGB]

Vaping is a big problem all over our jr/sr high school. I've spent the last two weeks of school on morning duty (before school) in the girls restroom in our school cafeteria. The only reason? Vaping.

 

[justafigment27]

Yes. Cigarettes and coffee have been replaced with vape and energy drinks. The marketing geniuses have done a great job of creating revenue generating addiction in teens.

 

[luvthatduke]

This is so troubling.
Wasn't the vape pen supposed to help smokers quit?

I read the other day that the Highlighter vapes
contain as much nicotine as FORTY cigarettes!
No wonder kids can't just quit them.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

MrsPete’s school nurse and a couple of posters here are spot on. My DD is finishing up her graduate capstone project (MSN/Public Health) on vascular disease related to smoking, which includes marijuana and e-cigarettes (vaping). Studies are showing there can be profoundly negative effects on the body from vaping that include not just the lungs, but the heart and vasculature throughout the body. Shocking to read, really. In some ways they’re WORSE than conventional cigarettes, as they can contain harmful additives, heavy metals, and are more addicting, having a much higher concentration of nicotine. Disturbingly, sales have risen dramatically in less than a decade, so we will, unfortunately, learn much more as time goes on (as much of it will be really sad to see!). A pp was correct in that companies did a great job of marketing vaping to people as a way to ”stop smoking”; and to our young folks, in particular, using fun flavoring and advertisements on social media. I’m sure most have very little understanding of what damage they are doing to their bodies. For some, it will be too late, as damage has already been done.

Bottom line - don’t allow your kids to do it if you can help it!
Put another way: Not smoking AT ALL is the best way to avoid health problems associated with smoking.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...pitalised-breathing-issues-caused-vaping.html

https://newsroom.heart.org/news/cur...-of-e-cigarette-use-long-term-research-needed

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...ouble-lung-transplant-using-e-cigarettes.html

 

[ronandannette]

Yes. Cigarettes and coffee have been replaced with vape and energy drinks. The marketing geniuses have done a great job of creating revenue generating addiction in teens.

And like many things, there is the potential for extremely adverse reactions in some individuals that young people especially, have no awareness or concern for - until it’s too late. A very dear loved one who was in university at the time, trying to cope with on-line exams during the early Covid lock-downs, vaped so much marijuana and consumed so much Red Bull that they ended up in a prolonged psychiatric hospitalization, diagnosed with “stimulant-induced psychosis” and now lives with what may be a permanent mental-health disability and a drastically altered future.

This HAPPENS - both marijuana and caffeine are psychoactive. Please shout a warning from the rooftops to anyone who will listen and parents need to AGGRESSIVELY try to protect their kids from this behaviour.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

I teach at a University here in Western Massachusetts and vaping/marijuana is more of an issue on college campuses. Hardly any of my students smoke cigarettes. When I asked my niece who recently graduated high school here about it she said that a ton of the kids are vaping and the vapes are about 50/50 weed and nicotine. My pre-teen son told me that doesn't know too many kids who vape at his school and he's in 7th grade.

 

[robinb]

My DD24 vaped Juuls when she was 17-18. She started the summer before college and quit within a year. I really admire her for quitting!

 

[princesscinderella]

It was rampant at my son's HS to the point he wouldn't use the restroom at school during the day as that's primarily where it was occurring. My middle daughter had 3 girls kicked out of her catholic school in 8th grade for vaping in the classroom, trying to conceal it in their sweatshirts, but it was fruity pebble flavor and the teacher could smell it. Two of my three kids won't even drink soda because it's bad for you so I'm hoping they continue to make good choices in the face of peer pressure for their health.