Lakeside works to educate parents, community on vaping

Lakeside High School has been utilizing Facebook Live to educate parents on the dangers vaping and e-cigarettes pose to students.

On Wednesday, Principal Darin Landry sat down with Dr. Gregory Whorton for a second livestream session to talk specifically about the health-related issues surrounding vaping.

“For this event, we are hoping to focus on the dangers and potential health risks of shortterm and long-term uses of vapes,” Landry told The Sentinel-Record in an email Tuesday. “Dr. Whorton brings a different perspective and experiences with the use of Juuls and vapes by teens. We are also hoping to be able to discuss the cessation process and what parents can do to help students stop this habit.”

Landry said vaping among American teens “has reached epidemic levels,” and over the past year, Lakeside has experienced a rise in the number of students using vaping devices.

“When talking with our students’ parents and with the PTO, we, as a school, realized that we were aware of this rise while the parents were not,” he said. “As a school, it is our duty to help educate parents on new trends — particularly when one of those trends can negatively impact our students’ futures and health.”

Landry said the main goal of these sessions is educating parents and the community.

“We want our parents to understand what these devices look like and to be able to be mindful of what their students are doing,” he said. “In the last Facebook Live session, I showed the devices, the ‘juice’ or oils, and the ways that students can mask or hide their usage of the devices. Additionally, I showed the caps and waste associated with the devices,” so even if parents do not see the device, but see anything related to the device, they can be aware.

Many questions from parents following the first livestream on Dec. 5 focused on the health risks and impacts, which Landry said prompted a second session featuring Whorton.

During Wednesday’s livestream, Whorton said the surgeon general actually declared an epidemic of e-cigarette use in the summer of 2018.

“You’re seeing vape shops popping up right and left in our town and all over the place,” he said. “If you look at some data, before the Juul came out, it was already growing rapidly from about 2011 to 2015.”

Whorton said there are certain signs parents can look for if they suspect their child is vaping.

“Nicotine being a stimulant, just any changes in your child’s behavior,” is something to look for, he said. “The vapor itself has a drying effect on the respiratory tract so if your student seems thirstier than normal, dry mouth, nosebleeds, those types of things.

“I think especially being vigilant about looking for unusual devices. The Juul type product looks like a USB device. It’s funny, my son was just saying last night about how now with things like Google Classroom, we’re not really using USB drives as much as we were years ago. If your student now seems to all of a sudden be using a lot of USB drives, that would raise some suspicion. And some of the other devices may just look like a writing pen so just be on the lookout for those types of products.”

Whorton said e-cigarettes can actually serve a good purpose for adult smokers. However, because they’ve been marketed as a safer alternative, youths may be getting the impression these devices are safe for them, as well.

“For most adult smokers, e-cigarettes have really been a great thing,” he said. “The safety in e-cigarette use for adults who smoke is definitely a better alternative. But when we’re talking about young people who still have developing brains, nicotine has some negative effects on brain development, especially for changes in, for one, just addictive behaviors.

“It’s kind of priming that addictive component of our brain and we worry that it might actually open up more

exploration into actual cigarette smoking. We see it affecting impulse control, mood, memory, so theoretically it could affect academic performance.”

Concerns also lie in what physical effects e-cigarettes might have on individuals decades down the road “as far as hormones and cancer risks.”

“It’s probably better than cigarettes, but we still don’t necessarily believe it’s safe,” he said. “There are still chemicals. It’s not just water vapor and nicotine.”

Whorton said he has seen in his practice youths who are addicted to nicotine and find themselves unable to quit, adding that nicotine’s effect can be as powerful as opioids. This makes nicotine withdrawal difficult for students to get past.

For parents concerned about how they can help their children through their addiction, he said it can start with something as simple as setting a good example.

“If you’re a parent and you smoke or you vape and you don’t want your kid doing it, then obviously you don’t need to be doing it either,” he said. “You need to have an open, nonjudgmental discussion on why they started doing it, why it appeals to them. I think because of the way it has been marketed to smokers, a lot of students just don’t think it’s a bad thing. They don’t necessarily see it as harmful. We need to educate them that there are problems with nicotine and their developing brain.”

For those addicted, nicotine patches and gums are a safe option, he said.

“The nicotine patches release in a more controlled fashion so you can actually taper the dose of the patch, so that’s a good way to help a student come off of the nicotine and avoid the intense withdrawal,” he said. “If the parent doesn’t really know how to approach it, go around and see your doctor and have a discussion with your child.”