Vaping a growing trend among youth population - Davisclipper

The Davis County health department is participating in a program called Operation Vapefront. Courtesy photo

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CLEARFIELD—Years ago teens might have gone behind the shed to try their first cigarette, but nowadays, smoking has taken on some new forms in the shape of electronic cigarettes and “vaping.”

In an effort to stay on top of the trend, the Davis County Health Department (DCHD) is participating in a program with the state called Operation Vapefront.

“Essentially my job at the DCHD is to protect and promote the health of the people in Davis County,” said Jake Isaacson, a health educator with the tobacco prevention control program at DCHD. “We’re going through all of the vape shops and stores that have a tobacco license with a survey list of questions. Things like what available types of products are in the store, where they are placed, are they behind the counter or where youth can reach them. Our focus is just in Davis County.”

When the survey is complete it will be turned over to the state for comparison studies. “It shows whether it is uniform throughout the state,” said Denise Mealy who is also a health educator with the tobacco prevention control program at DCHD. “It helps to see if there are gaps in the program. It’s simply a survey so that we know what needs to be taught.”

It’s a joint effort with the state, Isaacson said. “Here in Davis County we’re acting on anything we see. After the state looks at the data it will be released back out to the health departments. If we see any issues regarding state law we’ll address those. Our main goal across the board is to keep these products out of the hands of youth.”

Isaacson and Mealy work with schools and principals to teach Davis County youth about e-cigarettes.

“We want to make sure children don’t have access to these products, especially e-juice which is the liquid that goes into the e-cigarettes,” said Isaacson. “It’s a great way to get addicted to nicotine and we’re trying not to get kids addicted.”

Mealy said they want to make sure the ingredients are on the label even for adults. “They need to know what’s going into their bodies, it’s a form of transparency,” she said. “Because e-cigarettes are newer there isn’t as much information. They are potentially very dangerous. I would hate to see people think it’s a way to stop smoking. Many are dual using and not necessarily giving up smoking.”

The DCHD offers smoking cessation classes as well. “We have some classes to help youth quit,” said Isaacson. “The youth population is increasing in using electronic products even if they’ve never smoked before. The adult smoking rate has not dropped but the vaping rate has increased dramatically. We always encourage people to use FDA approved methods for smoking cessation and e-cigarettes are not approved.”

Isaacson said there are several resources online such as waytoquit.org that can help people stop smoking.

“People can get resources on what they might be able to do when they can’t smoke,” said Robert Ballew, DCHD public information officer/risk communication coordinator. “It’s better not to start than to try and quit.”

 

Guess it's better that then smoking. My generation were all cigarette junkies, most started smoking around 12. Kids are going to do illicit things, and vaping is the new thing. I'm not surprised but it'd not great, that's for sure.

 

It's still better than smoking, right. At least, they don't turn their non-smoking friends into passive smokers. I see a lot of young people with vaping devices nowadays. It's their choice and I can't say anything against that.

 

I've noticed this too and with time tobacco will be slowly replaced by vaping. I think it's great news because it will be healthier and cheaper.

 

But what if the said person has employed all methods to quit cigarettes but is still isn't successful? Maybe he had tried patches, gum, going cold turkey, gradually reducing his cigarettes... All of which don't work.

Would they still not want him to try vapes so he can quit something so dangerous, not only for his health but for others around him? Not to mention a fire hazard and contributes to garbage waste in the streets? What if he use vaping as an entry way to quit smoking and just limit it as well after a while? Maybe even quit vaping with nicotine...

I do agree that children need not be near e-juices. But hello? Cigarettes are basically available anywhere, even accessible by kids from home. Even my 8 year old nephew can buy it for my husband without the vendor questioning him. I think there are far more important issues than vaping in itself.

 

Sure there are, so eventually a 8 year old should not be allowed to buy it unless the vendor knows the family, each case is a case.

 

Lets not pretend that vaping is the most safest thing around for both adults and children. Sure, you could say that it's safer than cigarettes and it most definitely is. But the safety of vaping hasn't been studied in depth enough for us to even consider it safe and "harmless" at this point. Tobacco was studied for years and at first they thought that was safe as well. It'd be silly to jump to conclusions about the safety of vaping, when studies have recently shown it increases the risk of lung diseases.

 

Reminds me of the mad men episode where all the kids are drinking cola and not coffee.
We tend to adopt to things faster when we are young.
This isn't really surprising and actually a good trend, I think!

 

That's true, not only makes sense, but then we also have peer pressure that makes things happen even faster.