Vaping
If you are looking for trustworthy information that you can use to educate yourself, share with family members, or discuss with a young person, here are a variety of resources:
Info about Vaping
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has a comprehensive webpage titled Learn about e-cigarettes, vapes, and use by young people. It has information about vaping, including:
– the basics of what vaping is an how it affects young people
– information for schools, including curricula and other tools
– information for parents and other adults who care about kids and teens
Frequently Asked Questions About Vaping
PDF for online viewing or printing. No-nonsense information from the MA Department of Public Health. This is the brochure we’ve been giving to parents and teachers in our community.
Tips for Talking with Youth about Vaping
Vaping Conversation Guide from the American Lung Association - tips and suggestions based on science about how to have effective conversations and keep lines of communication open with children and youth.
Talk with Your Teen About E-Cigarettes: A Tip Sheet for Parents This one is from the United States Surgeon General’s Office.
Videos
There are a LOT of misleading or outdated videos out there about vaping! After reviewing many videos, here are a few that we feel comfortable sharing!
What Are the Harms of Vaping? (1:37) (2023) From the American Psychiatric Association, this short video from a trusted source explains what vaping is and some of the risk to young people's mental health and their brains.
Breath of Stress Air (15 seconds) (2022) Very short video from The Truth Campaign noting that vaping can actually increase feelings of stress even though vape companies have worked to get people to believe the opposite. Very easy to share - you could use it as a conversation starter!
Quitting Resources
This Is Quitting - Quitting Resources for Teens/Youth and Young Adults
Free, anonymous text messaging program with messages from other youth working on quitting and tips to quit and stay quit. This is Quitting is tailored based on age (within 13 to 24 years old) and product usage to give teens and young adults appropriate recommendations about quitting.
Text DITCHVAPE to 88709.
MyLifeMyQuit - Quitting Resource for Teens/Youth
A free, confidential resource that supports teens who want to stop vaping, smoking, or using other nicotine products. The site also has information for parents, educators, and other adults. MyLifeMyQuit includes:
- Five, one-on-one coaching sessions usually scheduled every 7-10 days. Coaching helps teens develop a quit plan, identify triggers, practice refusal skills and receive ongoing support for changing behaviors.
- Coaches available by phone, by text message or by online chat.
- Self-help and educational materials designed for teens, with input from teens.
Other Articles
How Vaping Nicotine Can Affect A Teenage Brain (October, 2019 and still relevant) Article and link to a 4-minute radio story about how nicotine and the other chemicals in vaping can affect developing teenage brains. By Jon Hamilton, from NPR
The Overlooked Environmental Impact of Vaping (July, 2023) Article from Time Magazine about the increasing problem of waste from disposable vapes. In addition to plastic, the waste created is both electronic waste (because of the batteries) and toxic waste (because of the nicotine and other chemicals).
Vaping increases risk of chronic lung disease by 30%, according to new study (December, 2019 and still relevant)
This USA Today article highlights the results of a large study about the effects of vaping over several years. Research shows that vaping increases risk of lung diseases like emphysema, asthma and bronchitis by 30% - a lot!. The link to the journal article with the original research is also here. (We don't recommend the video at the top of the article - it's an overview of vaping that isn't great and isn't related to this specific article.) By Jorge L. Ortiz, from USA Today
If you are an educator, student, or someone else interested in vaping curricula or vaping discipline policies for schools, we have a bunch of info on that too. We also have more links to longer articles and research if you want to dive deeper into this topic. Feel free to contact 4SC Coordinator Ilana and let her know what you are looking for!
