"An epidemic of young people"

gREENFIELD – Brandee Bastin has been helping people quit smoking for 16 years and she has never seen anything like it.

Bastin, coordinator of the Hancock Regional Hospital Tobacco Initiative, has seen a rapid increase in the number of youth using e-cigarettes, including those dressed in pens, in the last two years. she said.

While the Food and Drug Administration warns of the risk of teen epidemic, local agencies are working to educate the public about the dangers of electronic nicotine delivery systems. According to Bastin, electronic cigarettes, aerosols and vapes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid to produce an aerosol – which usually contains nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco.

The story continues under the gallery

Click here to buy pictures from this gallery

"Two years ago, about 10% of high school students had announced that they were winding down, now they are probably quadrupled," Bastin said at a recent event organized in the city. community to inform the public about the risks of vaping. "This is an addiction, not a fad."

Over the past year, Bastin has organized rallies in county schools, reaching some 4,000 students. She remembers that during such a summons, she was talking about a type of electronic cigarette, JUUL, which is popular among teens, and some of the students applauded it when she talked about it.

On Sept. 12, the FDA announced that it had issued more than 1,300 warnings and fines to retailers who illegally sold electronic cigarette products, including JUUL. According to a press release, the FDA discovered these illegal sales during a "blitz" under cover conducted by retailers both physical and virtual across the country.

The FDA plans to take significant steps to address the problem of illegal e-cigarette sales and the increasing use of such devices by teens, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in the press release. .

These measures involved asking five electronic cigarette companies – Vuse, Blu, Juul, MarkTen XL and Logic, which account for approximately 97% of the US e-cigarette market – to submit plans in the next two months describing widespread access and use. of their products by young people, according to a press release.

If the companies do not submit a plan or submit an adequate plan, the FDA may take steps to compel the brands to stop selling all or part of their flavored products until they get a good deal. authorization before the sale and fulfill all their obligations. law, according to the press release.

"We are seeing clear signs that the use of e-cigarettes by young people has reached an epidemic proportion, and we need to adjust some aspects of our overall strategy to curb this clear and present danger," Gottlieb said in a statement. press. "It starts with the steps we are taking today to crack down on retail sales of electronic cigarettes to minors. We will also review our compliance policy which has extended the dates at which manufacturers of certain flavored electronic cigarettes may submit pre-market authorization applications. I believe that certain flavors are one of the main drivers of youth appeal for these products. "

Austyn Tift, director of Indy's Vape Escape, an electronic cigarette store opened in August 1929 at N. State St., said he believed that the "big five" cigarette makers FDA-cited electronics had made a mistake in advertising at gas stations because it believed that many gas station employees do not make customer cards.

Only people aged 18 or older are welcome in the newly opened specialty store, and anyone trying to make a purchase is patented, he said.

The store also sells only larger open-tank type vapers, although it sells many flavors of liquids, including some brands cited by the FDA for packaging products that appeal to young people, said Tift.

Experts say that the concealment of electronic cigarettes sold in gas stations and convenience stores is partly the reason for their popularity among teenagers.

JUUL, one of the most popular electronic cigarettes on the market, looks like a USB key and hides itself easily, said Bastin. The brand represents about 55 percent of the electronic cigarette market, she said.

"This is not a harmless product," said Bastin at a recent event at Brandywine Christian Church.

She added that each liquid capsule, which represents about 200 puffs, contains the equivalent amount of nicotine in a complete pack of cigarettes.

In addition to its youth-friendly flavors such as mango and crème brûlée, JUUL is especially appealing to teenagers for its affordable price compared to cigarettes, Bastin said. That's about $ 16 for a pack of four capsules, which is about half the equivalent amount of cigarettes.

However, if a user was only blowing on a JUUL pod a day, he would spend nearly $ 1,500 a year, she said.

Cheri Cole, of Greenfield, recently attended the public information meeting at the Brandywine Community Church with her 15-year-old son, who had recently been caught vaping.

She said she hoped the consequences described by Bastin, including devices that exploded and burned or injured users, led her son to think twice about this habit.

Teens and young adults who use electronic cigarettes are more likely to switch to other tobacco products, including cigarettes or chewing tobacco, Bastin said. While a comprehensive report published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine shows that the use of the electronic cigarette exposes smokers to less dangerous chemicals than traditional cigarettes Mr. Bastin said that nicotine can still have many negative effects on the body.

She shared information with Tobacco-Free Life, a non-profit organization created by tobacco advocates. The organization's website states that nicotine side effects include lung spasms, muscle tremors, insulin resistance, changes in heart rate and blood pressure, irritability, sleep disorders and many other problems.

Bastin said she worked with the county schools to change the response to students caught with electronic cigarettes, because giving them a break in school and throwing them in the garbage did not stop the addiction. She is trying to get districts to start requiring students caught red-handed to attend the hospital's free smoking cessation program.

"We need to come together as a community to fix it," she said. "Do not dwell on the punitive aspect. If a child fails to spend a day without drinking, it is an addiction. "

If you are going to

Smoking cessation course