This commentary is by Kelly McGovern Landwehr, MSN, RN, of Bridport. She is president of the Vermont State School Nurses’ Association, and a school nurse at Middlebury Union High School.
As a healthcare professional who works with Vermont kids daily, I am incredibly concerned about the vaping epidemic in Vermont caused by flavored tobacco, and I urge lawmakers to act quickly.
S.18 would eliminate the sale of flavored tobacco, including vaping products and is sorely needed because Vermont youth are paying the price in addiction, including my own daughter.
I am a pediatric nurse practitioner, a school nurse at Middlebury Union High School and the president of the Vermont State School Nurses Association. I am dedicated to caring for, educating, supporting, protecting and advocating for the youth in my community and statewide. This is why I testified in support of S.18. Our children — my child — is worth more than the revenues from these products.
Nicotine, tobacco and e-liquids are unequivocally harmful to the brain and lungs of children. Teens and young adults are developmentally far more susceptible and vulnerable to becoming addicted to nicotine.
To prevent the harm of these products, we must eliminate what is drawing kids to them in droves — flavors.
As a school nurse, this is what I observe on a regular basis:
- Addiction to nicotine products becomes the priority.
- Student education is interrupted as students skip class to feed their nicotine addiction.
- Students reach out to the school nurse and to the substance use prevention specialist scared and wanting help.
- Parents of children addicted to nicotine reach out, desperate to help their children.
- Students are alarmed to feel their hearts racing and feel very anxious, restless and frightened.
- Students use social media to arrange meetups within the school to vape together.
- Students who have started vaping seek help for a chronic cough or shortness of breath.
- Students use nicotine products socially and quickly becoming addicted when they never intended to.
- Students didn’t realize that vapes, e-cigarettes, and flavored cigars were harmful or addicting.
- Students say appealing flavors draw them to vaping and they are more likely to use nicotine products that taste and smell good.
- Athletes now have health effects that interfere with playing the sports they love.
- Students have been diagnosed with serious and sometimes irreversible lung conditions due to vaping.
This is real and what I see every day. After witnessing first-hand the physical and mental health effects of nicotine, tobacco and e-liquids and the grip that addiction takes on our kids, I strongly believe nothing should trump our kids’ health and we must do everything in our power to pass this bill.
What we are seeing in schools highlights a hidden cost of flavored nicotine products — the cost of education as students miss valuable classroom time feeding their addiction. This also results in needing to fund additional staff and resources needed in schools to track down students missing from class and the interventions required when students are caught vaping which often results in being suspended and missing even more academic time.
Lastly, I’d like to share some comments from one student in particular.
“As time went on, I started to realize that I had fallen into a dangerous trap. Vaping became more than just a social activity; it became a craving that consumed my every waking moment. Vaping gave me an unexplainable sense of comfort and ease, and I began to depend on it. Without it, I felt tired, irritable, depressed, and was unable to stop thinking about it.
It wasn’t long before the addiction took a toll on my physical and mental health. I noticed that I had difficulty breathing, and my chest was always tight and painful. My energy levels plummeted, and I struggled to focus on my schoolwork. Even worse, I became isolated from the friends and family who truly cared about me because I couldn’t be honest with them about my addiction, and I felt more alone than I ever had. Vaping had taken over my life, and I had become a slave to the habit”
This student also happens to be my 16-year-old daughter who began vaping the summer after she turned 14.
This is real and happening to so many kids in our schools in Vermont. S.18 is needed now. Education, clearly, is not enough. Lawmakers need to eliminate the enticement of these products, the flavors that are hooking a new generation of possible lifelong customers.
I can’t imagine a scenario where anything is more important than the health and well-being of our young people. I urge the Vermont House to follow the Senate’s lead and pass S.18.
