[ad_1]
WASHINGTON (AP) – The highest health authorities in the country agree that: Steam adolescence is an epidemic that now affects some 3.6 million Juul users and other electronic cigarettes. But no one seems to know the best way to help teens who may be addicted to nicotine.
According to the latest US figures, e-cigarettes are now the main high-risk substance used by teens, which show that Juul and similar products quickly outpaced cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and other substances listed for longer. forty years old.
Portable devices heat a liquid solution that usually contains nicotine into an inhalable vapor. Federal law prohibits the sale to under 18s, although many high school students report having obtained from older students or online.
In recent months, government officials have put forward a series of proposals to protect youth products, including strengthening convenience store sales and online sales. In November, the vaping giant Juul voluntarily closed its Facebook and Instagram accounts and removed several perfumes from retail stores.
But there has not been much discussion about how to treat nicotine addiction in 11-year-olds. While some teens should be able to quit smoking without help, experts say that many of them will be embarrbaded by withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating and loss of appetite.
Physicians who treat youth now face a series of dilemmas: Anti-smoking treatments on the market – such as nicotine patches and gums – are not approved for children because of lack of testing or ineffective results. And young people consider that this habit is much less risky, which poses another obstacle to quitting smoking.
The hardness of cigarette smoke often limits the amount of air inhaled by teens, sometimes discouraging them from adopting them completely. This deterrence does not exist with the vapors of electronic cigarettes, which are generally much softer, according to experts.
Abandoning any addiction requires discipline, patience and a willingness to follow a treatment plan, something many young people do not like, experts said.
"Teens have their own idea of what might be right for them and they will do what they do," said Susanne Tanski, an expert in smoking prevention at the American Academy of Pediatrics. "But we desperately need studies to know what will work with this population."
Since they debuted in the United States in 2007, e-cigarettes and other vaping devices have now grown to $ 6.6 billion. The recent increase in juvenile use among miners is through small, easy-to-hide devices like Juul, which vaporizes a rich nicotine solution sold in flavors such as cream, mango and cucumber. Despite the industry's fears over flavor suppression, the FDA has taken no action to ban the range of candy and fruit varieties that companies use to differentiate their offerings.
E-cigarettes have become a scourge in American schools, students often run out of steam in the bathroom or between clbades. According to a 2018 federal poll, one in five high school students said they were vaping last month.
Juul and other brands are presented to adult smokers as a way to stop smoking, but little research has been done on this claim or its long-term health effects, especially among young people. Nicotine can affect the learning, memory and attention of the adolescent brain, but there is virtually no research on the effect of electronic cigarette vapors on the lungs, which do not fully mature before age 20.
"It's scary for me as a pediatrician, because I really feel that this uncontrolled experience is happening among our kids," Tanski said. "They do not perceive evil, and we can not show them what it's going to be like."
Tanski and other experts will meet this Friday at the Food and Drug Administration to discuss the potential role of pharmaceutical therapies and over-the-counter medications such as gums and nicotine patches.
Regulators Recognize That They're Starting Out: The FDA "is not aware of any research examining drug or behavioral interventions" to help e-cigarette users stop to smoke, the agency said in his announcement.
The FDA will also hear from researchers, vaping leaders, parents and teens.
"We want to make sure our voices are heard and that, most importantly – our children's voices are heard," said Meredith Berkman, who plans to speak at the meeting with her 10-year-old son.
Berkman said she realized for the first time that her son and her friends were "Juuling" last year when she had heard them repeatedly open and close the window of her room. With two other mothers in New York, she formed the Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes group, which asks the FDA to ban all the flavors of the electronic cigarette.
"Unless the flavors are removed from the market, kids will continue to be seduced by these highly addictive nicotine delivery systems like Juul," said Berkman.
Quitting smoking is notoriously difficult, even for adults with access to various programs and aids. According to government figures, more than 55% of adult smokers attempt to quit each year, but only about 7% do so.
Nicotine gums, patches and lozenges are available over-the-counter for 18 years and older, and are sometimes prescribed "out of specification" for younger patients. They provide low levels of nicotine to help control cravings. Prescription drugs include Zyban, an antidepressant, and Chantix, which blocks the effects of nicotine on the brain. But neither of them has shown positive results in adolescents and both cause disturbing side effects, including suicidal thoughts for Zyban and nausea and abnormal dreams for Chantix.
This leaves counseling as an unavoidable option for teens who are trying to quit smoking.
In November, Colorado lowered the minimum age of eligibility for its direct line to quit smoking from 15 to 12 years, in response to the vaping explosion among students starting in Grade 6. According to federal data, the State's miners' vaping rate is the highest in the United States, with one in four students using secondary products. The state's online and telephone programs offer free support to help users create a stop plan, manage cravings and avoid relapses.
However, even a consultation has shown only "limited evidence" to help adolescents, according to a comprehensive review of the medical literature published in 2017.
Nevertheless, drug addiction specialists are seeing increasing demand for such programs, especially for group sessions that often yield the most promising results.
Addiction psychiatrist Jonathan Avery says he receives four to five calls a week from pediatricians who recommend patients to him or ask them for treatment options. One of the most important issues is the educational gap – many doctors have not heard of Juul and do not even recognize the vaping devices brought by their parents.
On the other hand, teens are often "suspicious" when it informs them that they are inhaling a highly addictive substance, said Avery, of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
About two-thirds of American teens do not realize that Juul contains nicotine, according to a recent poll by the Truth Initiative, a smokers' rights group.
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams highlighted his point of view in a rare public announcement last month. He added that even his 14-year-old son thought the vapor of the electronic cigarette was essentially harmless.
"Young people like my son have no idea what these products contain most of the time," he said.
.
Source link
