WINOOSKI – The booming e-cigarette market got a little bigger — and more attractive to young users — with the addition of a JUUL, a product that doesn’t resemble a cigarette, but still delivers the nicotine.
With popularity among teens soaring in the past year, Vermont schools like Winooski High are starting to grapple with a new class of young nicotine users.
“This product in particular is attractive and discreet,” said Kate Nugent, executive director of the Winooski Partnership for Prevention, which works with the local school district to make sure faculty and staff are aware of new trends and informing students about “tricks of the tobacco industry.”
“You wouldn’t necessarily notice it in your child’s bedroom or at school because it looks like an attractive jump drive and plugs into a computer. It also contains a large amount of nicotine,” Nugent said of the JUUL devices.
Nugent cited a national study showing 63 percent of JUUL users didn’t know the product always contains nicotine.
“It’s a very social activity,” said the Vermont Health Department’s Rhonda Williams. “Students will pool their funds to purchase the pods and use them together.”
The sleek nicotine delivery devices are available to anyone over 18 in Vermont (the minimum age is 21 in some states). JUUL entered the market about three years ago, but has taken the country by storm mostly in the past year.
The Vermont Department of Liquor Control began issuing separate “endorsements” in 2016 for stores that hold tobacco licenses to sell “tobacco substitutes,” including vapes and JUULs, said Skyler Genest, director of compliance and enforcement at the agency.
The popularity of the devices, which are marketed as an alternative to smoking and are showing up in high schools and on college campuses, has raised serious health concerns, and calls to rein in their marketing to young users.
While the devices are less dangerous than cigarettes, even the JUUL company says that the product should not be considered “safe.” The liquid burned by the devices contains a number of toxins and chemicals, as well as nicotine.
One “pod,” the nicotine cartridges used in the device, contains the same number of “puffs” as a pack of cigarettes. The flavors of JUUL pods include mango, cool mint, fruit medley, creme brulee and cool cucumber.
Pressure is mounting on the federal Food and Drug Administration to take action and better regulate the new devices, which can also act as smoking cessation aids for nicotine addicts.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is among those who have called for specific action to prevent the new devices from being marketing or geared toward young users. “Ban fun e-Cig flavors that entice the kids,” Schumer said earlier this month.
Many health professionals also are becoming increasingly concerned about the effect e-cigarettes have on users. The Centers for Disease Control note the U.S. faces a staggering health and economic burden of $193 billion yearly stemming from tobacco use.
Rhonda Williams, head of chronic disease prevention at Vermont’s Department of Health, said the office was working with Student Assistance Program counselors through tobacco-free grantees, delivering e-cigarette presentations at schools and other locations.
“It can sound harmless to youth,” Williams said. “Youth consistently report flavors as a leading reason for using e-cigarettes.”
With the federal government responding slowly to these new paths to nicotine addiction, schools are not waiting to address the new health threat to their students.
Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg held grade-wide assemblies late last year to warn students about consequences of vaping on campus. Administrators have also upped disciplinary consequences for students who use e-cigarettes or similar devices on campus.
Along with punishments including suspensions or meeting with the school board, the school also offers personal support for addiction and drug and alcohol counseling. Juuling has quickly become a schoolwide problem.
“Never in my years of working here has a principal had to call a schoolwide meeting regarding rule violations and student safety,” said Tim Trevithick, CVU student assistance program counselor. “Multiple students were disciplined during the first semester for possessing a JUUL at school.”
Saint Michael’s College Psychology associate professor Ari Kirshenbaum last year received a $365,865 National Institutes of Health grant to support three years of research on abuse potential of e-cigarettes in young adults.
“We’re at the beginning of the study and have no data yet to make any conclusions,” said Kirshenbaum. Results from the analysis will be available in 2020.
In the meantime, e-cigarettes, vapes and JUULs aren’t allowed on campus because they pose a fire hazard.
