A few weeks back, a teen told me to listen to Emma Chamberlain’s (a mega young influencer) podcast episode, Nicotine Addiction. In the episode, Chamberlain reveals that she has been vaping for several years and has finally decided to try to quit. 

I appreciated that Emma spoke about how she purposely never revealed her vaping habit to her audience until then because she never wanted to influence anyone to start vaping. I applaud her for that. 

Sadly, many other influencers did not make similar choices when they decided to be paid by Juul Labs, Inc. to influence millions of young people to start vaping. Today, I share some of the dirty tactics used by the nicotine industry and then, most importantly, discuss things we, and our youth, can do to make a difference.

(By the way, Emma released a new episode yesterday explaining all the ways she has tried to quit vaping and how hard it has been.)

While making Screenagers Under The Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol, we spent a lot of time researching the many things that e-cigarette companies, like Juul Labs Inc., did to target young people to use their products. The fact that Juul Labs, Inc. paid influencers to target young people on social media is unforgivable. 

I also learned how these companies have used their large legal teams to block any new laws that would help reverse the youth vaping epidemic. For example, concerned individuals helped get a law passed in California to prevent the sale of flavored tobacco products, yet the tobacco industry blocked it immediately. It had to go to the Supreme Court, but finally, we won.  I remember my jaw dropping when I was filming Dr. Pam Ling, and she listed in quick succession many more examples of similar legal blocks by these companies. 

All this wrongdoing has impacted millions of kids. We know that the inhaled aerosol in vape devices harms the lungs. Experiments have revealed the detrimental impacts of nicotine on the developing teen brain, and we know that teens who vape are more likely to start smoking tobacco cigarettes. 

The reinforcing nature of nicotine impacts people to different degrees. Some youth try vapes but do not develop a dependency. That said, they may develop an addiction at any time in the future. Others try vapes and find the reinforcing nature to be such that they start to crave the nicotine experience. It has been disheartening to continuously hear about the high percentage of college-age students who vape. 

School Impact

In my clinical practice, teens tell me how cravings to “hit their vape” while in class can make it impossible to concentrate in class. Others talk about an unsettling “nervous feeling” that overcomes them in class and how they can’t wait to find a way to vape.

In Screenagers Under The Influence, Ellie says, “In school, I would take a bathroom break about every 30 minutes just to go vape.” 

Some kids vape during class. Some of them do this because the feeling of withdrawal is so uncomfortable. 

Ellie said, “Without vaping, I felt restlessness, agitation…If I went an hour without it, I would get jitters. My whole hands, my whole body would shake. I would have a full reaction without the nicotine.”

Empathy for our youth

I feel so much empathy towards youth around all of this. They should never have been exposed to such massive media marketing and given such wide access to this sweet-flavored nicotine that works on the brains' reward-dopamine centers. Congress long ago got rid of flavored cigarettes. Where was Congress when all these flavored vapes hit the ground?

Good news and things we can all do!

Finally, legal settlements are coming through the pipeline, in which Juul Labs, Inc. is being held accountable for the many manipulative practices that they did. Hundreds of millions of dollars is being distributed to states. 

We have to be sure the funds really go to help youth.

In many states, the money must be used to help youth by boosting education programs, other prevention strategies, addiction treatment programs, and more. BUT, we have to make sure that the states that receive these settlement funds actually spend that money on combating e-cigarette use by our youth. People have spoken about how some funds from past tobacco settlements were littered.  Let's help prevent this. How? Keep reading.

The Public Health Law Center has made an interactive map of the states that have settlements from Juul Labs Inc. When you click on a state on the map, it will tell you how the settlement money is supposed to be allocated in that state. 

For instance, according to the California Attorney General, the $175.8 million received by California will be used to support, among other things:

• Programs to educate youth about the harms of vaping, and to help them quit its use;
• Enforcement work carried out to implement California's ban on sale of flavored nicotine products
• Research into the health effects of the use of e-cigarettes by youth

However, it is important to know that in some states, the state legislature must approve decisions concerning how the funds will be spent. Because historically, some of the big tobacco settlements' money never made it to prevention education or treatment, and the money sometimes went to road improvements or the like, we need to be vocal. I encourage you to find your state on the map with your child or students and learn how the money will or is being distributed.

Youth are making change, and yours can, too.

In our new film, we see a school in which 11th and 12th graders give interactive presentations about the science of reinforcing substances — particularly nicotine and cannabis — to 9th graders as well as to 8th graders in middle schools.  Many youth are doing this across the country, which is wonderful! More of this needs to happen. 

The Truth Initiative, a major organization working to prevent tobacco product use by youth, provides many opportunities for young people to take action. (Remember that most nicotine on the market comes from tobacco). Sharing this page with youth in your life is a great way to get them inspired. It highlights specific wins that youth have made happen in this space.

Consider organizing a Screenagers Under The Influence viewing with a panel of youth speaking afterward.

The section in the film about vaping is one of the parts teens tell us they love the most. Hearing specific nefarious acts by Juul Labs, Inc. and hearing Ellie’s journey of how she used social media to end her addiction to e-cigarettes gets youth talking!

Facilitating a post-screening discussion with a panel of students, who can reflect on the events unfolding in their school and share successful strategies they've encountered, can rally the school community to support essential changes.

Why all of this is incredibly important

Let's face reality. We have a significant task ahead of us to prevent nicotine, a highly addictive substance, from infiltrating our children's lives through vaping, pouches, and other products. The tobacco industry stands to make billions in profits, and they won't relinquish their hold easily.

Yet together, we can, slowly but surely, make a difference. I know because we have been doing it.  The recent settlements have come about via the work of youth, parents, teachers, and many other concerned folks.  Let’s talk with our kids today about what we can all do to make a difference. 

Questions to get the questions started: 

1. How do you feel about influencers like Emma Chamberlain choosing not to promote certain behaviors or products due to their potential negative impact on their followers? 
2. Have you or someone you know ever felt the urge to try vaping after seeing it on social media or in other media outlets?

3. How do you think young people can play a more proactive role in combating the vaping epidemic in schools? Do you have any groups in your school that do peer-to-peer education on topics like vaping?