Ep 109 | What's the best way to talk with your kids about vaping?

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This new generation coming up, they don't like the smell. Let's make it smell better. So they have it tasting like strawberries, which means that it smells like strawberries, mangoes, sour patch kits, candy. They're targeting our youth. So in the little pots, which are probably like no larger than my thumbnail, that little pot is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes. The one pod? The one pot.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Itcambe County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. If you've spent any amount of time with another parent, you've heard them complain about vaping. Not other parents, but their kids and kids at school. No one wants developing brains to become addicted, but how do you talk with your kids about it? My next guest is a tobacco prevention specialist for Tobacco Free Florida. And today she's going to get us up to speed on how widespread the problem is, share parent strategies, and answer the questions we've all thought. Public educator and problem solver, West Florida graduate Jasmine Sims. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Thank you for having me here today.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

I'm so excited. Me too. We have wanted to do this episode for a hot minute because it is truly something on like every parent's minds. And I think parents they want the support. They need the help. But let's go to your title Tobacco Prevention Specialist. That's a very specific title. Do you have a personal motivation for working in this field?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yes. So for me personally, I know we got into the community a lot. We go to hospitals, apartment complexes, just anything community and that can bring public health awareness, we're there. So a lot of the times when I'm having the conversations with my audience, they're like, Well, how am I supposed to trust you? Like, how you don't know how hard it is for me to stop? And I'm like, I don't. However, I have lived with relatives who have dealt with nicotine dependence and nicotine addiction. So for me personally and my immediate family, I have four relatives who have suffered some type of health defect or emergency due to smoking, vaping, dipping, and cigars. So my grandfather, he had to get his leg amputated. My grandmother, she had two strokes, and that was from chewing tobacco. My aunt had an aneurysm. And my stepfather, he hasn't smoked for almost over 30 years, and he still has chronic CLPD. So for me, I still take it very personal because these are all people who have helped me get here today that I have seen big tobacco just tear them down. Luckily, all of them are here today, but not everybody has that happy ending. Like eventually down the line, yes, my grandmother did pass, but it was due to other complications. But after her strokes, she was able to come back home and be with us again. But when I go out and speak to people, there's even people like 18 and even high schoolers that have unfortunately succumbed to nicotine dependence because it's just so bad. Like they're even sneaking fromaldehyde and fentanyl in there and all that stuff. So it's it's very sad that they're doing this and they're targeting our youth. But for me and my family, the rest of us vow that we would never touch cigarettes and we're all in the public health field, whether it's physician's assistant, me, a public health worker, pharmacology, nursing, and we all have our hands in some form of, okay, let's fight against big tobacco and get this off the streets and help out our community so people don't have to go through the tragedies that we've had to go through.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Wow. That's incredible. That is so incredible. Finding big tobacco feels like, I mean, that's like a big, that's a big feeling. But what I love what is what you're trying to do is create different individual choices that create different market signals. Let's say big tobacco, we don't want what you're offering.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

And that's major. I have so many questions for you. And the first one that I thought of while you're sharing your your family's impact from tobacco was about the idea that smoking a vape is better than smoking cigarettes. Because, you know, people who have nicotine addiction, which I've heard is like the hardest thing to quit. So I have so much compassion for people who are on that road and trying to improve their life by quitting nicotine. But they go, you know what? I'm gonna pick up this jewel. I'm gonna pick up this vape pen instead. And at least I won't be giving secondhand smoke to my family members. It's slightly healthier. I can control the the level of nicotine in it. Is there any truth to that?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Everything you said is false.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Everything I said is false. Oh my gosh. Okay, enlighten us, please.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Okay, so first I'll just start talking about like what is a vape? So a vape is an electronic nicotine delivery system. So everybody sees them, oh, they look so cool, oh, they smell so good. All of it's bad. That's why they made them like that. Because I know for my generation, when I was in school, nobody really touched cigarettes, or none of my friends did. So we're like, oh, they stink, like, get away. But now, you know, Big Tobacco is looking around, like, okay, so this new generation coming up, they don't like the smell. Let's make it smell better. So they have it tasting like strawberries, which means that it smells like strawberries, mangoes, sour patch kits, candy, they're targeting our youth. So in the little pots, which are probably like no larger than my thumbnail, that little pod is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes. The one pod? The one pod.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Okay, so am I understanding this correctly? That the part of the reason that it's not a good substitute is because the level that you're consuming is so much greater.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yes, because the pod contains nicotine salts, which is a higher concentrated level of nicotine. So think about it. Pack of cigarettes, that's a lot. Like you can really, okay, okay, I smoke two a day, three a day, this is a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Well, it's an equal measurement. Exactly. Like everybody, like when they talk about quitting, they're like, how many packs a day are you, man? And so if you say, Oh, I'm one pack a day, oh, you're, you know, you're good. Two packs, okay, that's tough. And it's like this universal measurement. But with vapes, you're saying that it's more concentrated and does it vary product to product, brand to brand?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yes, but they're all still much more potent because I know typically I work with the adults and my counterpart works with the youth, but we still come with each other everywhere. So we'll sit in some of the cessation meetings that we have every Thursday, and we have a lot of clients that come in there, they're like, Yeah, I've been trying, I've been doing great. I stopped smoking cigarettes, I'm vaping, and we're just kind of looking down, like, I hate to give you that news. That's just as bad. They're like, Well, I go through about three pods a week, and we're like, that's about three packs of cigarettes. So they really are thinking that it's better because that's how it's advertised. But then when they go into our classes and we're really giving them like the history, the chemistry, and what they're really intaking in their body, they're mortified, like, oh my gosh, I was fooled. I thought this was so much better, and it's it's not. We can talk about what's inside of a vape, and that right there will, you're gonna be shocked. So we'll say that there's nearly 2,000 chemicals that are found in vapes, and the vast majority of them are identified.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Wait, unidentified?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yes. So at least with the cigarette, there's more ingredients that you may know, but in vapes, there's 2,000 chemicals, and the vast majority are unidentified.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Okay, do this is a dumb question, but I'm gonna ask it because here we are. Are vapes FDA approved? We'll talk about that as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

So they're approved. I feel like Jasmine has entered the chat. She is she's due to us realizing that big tobacco is really targeting the youth because those are our up-and-coming adults. That's why they made the candy flavor. So when they saw that um, I believe in 2018, there was a 700% increase of our youth nationally that began vaping because oh, it was so cool, peer pressure, it smelled so good, just a fat. The kids were just, oh my gosh, this is so much fun. Well, when after many statistics and research was done, they banned the fruit flavored. However, big tobacco is still sneaking it, making it, providing it to the stores and all that stuff. So their fruit-flavored vapes are illegal. However, vapes are still legal, they still allow tobacco to be in them, still allow menthol to be in them, as well as other things. So unfortunately, it is currently legal, but that's what I'm here for to try to help eliminate it.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

It's interesting to me how interesting. I really mean confusing. That's the word I actually mean to say. It's confusing to me that something can have unlabeled ingredients and still be allowed to be sold on shelves.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Exactly. And that's where we come in as tobacco free for like the same thing. Like, how are we selling something and we don't know what's inside of it? Like, I'll go over a list of some of the common ingredients and like where you can find these. So nicotine is the most common one. However, many people don't know, especially, well, I'm gonna ask you a question. Let's see if you know the answer. Oh gosh. What age do you think most people pick up their first nicotine product? 10. Lower. What? Yes, it's eight years old. Eight. Yes. So our elementary babies out here are already experiencing and experimenting with vapes, cigarettes, all of that. So, what many people don't know, nicotine, it delays and interacts with brain development. Your brain doesn't fully develop until you're 25. So if you begin smoking or experimenting at eight, this is affecting you until your 20s. But many people don't know that. They just know, okay, nicotine is found in tobacco. We're smoking it, it's dependent, but they don't really know what they're intaking and how it's affecting their body. There's also propylene glycol. That is a common food additive, and it can be found in antifreeze, paint solvent, and you know, like the fog machines to smoke, the art that's what you find in there. Formaldehyde, that's used to embalm people. Acetone, that's nail polish remover, ammonia, that's foreign toilet cleaner, arsenic, that's rat poison. These are all in there, and then it's more carbon monoxide, that's auto exhaust, hexamine, that's what you use for the little long barbecue lighters, DDT, insecticide, methanol, that's for rocket and auto fuel. So to fuel a rocket, that's something pretty extreme and strong. And I don't want that in my body, and I don't want that in my community's bodies, but unfortunately, they're adding these types of chemicals and toxins into them. Titanium, that's for airplanes and missiles. So these are just, I probably listed about 12 chemicals, but there's thousands or at least for sure hundreds that I can't tell you the name of them. And it's just very saddening that they would even allow something like that to be on the market. But me and my team here and the rest of the team in Florida, that's where we're, that's our goal. We all have our own stories of why we're here. Like I know we were talking about in the office before I came here. Most people like you'll everybody in their family probably has somebody who drinks or smokes cigarettes. You're probably like, oh, I just don't like to be around them because of the smell. Sometimes we'll see or have that relative that like drinks alcohol, but we really don't say anything until we're like, okay, now they're an alcoholic, but we never try to do anything like, hey, what's going on? Let's stop you. Nobody really goes in full force until it's like drugs. And one thing about nicotine, it's almost as addictive, or it can possibly be even equal to or a little bit more addictive, like cocaine and heroin. So everybody steps in with the drugs come to play and alcoholism. But with tobacco, it's just like you'll be sitting around and then someone's like, oh, I wish you'll stop smoking, but nobody's coming up to visit Jasmine at the health department. Like, hey, Tobacco Free Florida's here. What can you do to help? I'm quick to make a bag for you really quick, drop it off. But it's just, we know it's a problem, but I think our society kind of overlooks it. But unfortunately, now, since it's been overlooked for so long, it's affecting our youth. But I guess that's becoming the eye-opener for us to really get the spotlight that this stigma needs that's now considered an epidemic for us to fight against this and we'll will eventually win. We just need the community to back us.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

You're right, though. It is interesting to see what things get a pass in our society versus what don't. Like a lot of people your age are living in sobriety, like they're going on sober dates. And I just see article after article about them your generation really enjoying and not drinking alcohol. And yet we have the generation right under you and and they are experiencing this vaping. Let me ask you, since we're talking about ingredients, fentanyl. We did an episode on that just recently. Is that being found in any vape pens that you know of? Yes. How prominent is that?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

I can't really give you an exact amount, but it has been found. It happens. It happens. Okay. How bad is vaping among people under 18? It's actually more common, unfortunately, in youth under 18 than it is in adults. Mostly adults from the research that we have done, it seems like they typically pick it up because they want to stop smoking and they think that they're doing better. They think they're saving more money. So they're like, okay, well, they feel like, okay, I'm smoking cigarettes, I want to quit. Step one, pick up a vape. No, no, no, no, no. That's wrong. But the kids, the kids are, it's kind of like a fad. Like when it pretty much it sounds like history is repeating itself because when smoking cigarettes first came out, it was the military meant. First women couldn't smoke. Eventually they could smoke, but it was cool. You remember all the black and white movies? Everybody's thinking that they look so cute smoking, but they didn't know what they were taking our bodies. So history repeats itself. Okay, well, this new generation, they don't think it's cute. They're they know don't smoke cigarettes. So what can we event that has the same effects or really possibly worse effects that can catch their attention? So they made the vapes, the vapes, sour patch candies, they can make it taste like any candy, any fruit. For the youth, too, it's all about appearance. So typically in the classrooms and with the stories that we have heard, they look like USB drives, they look like ballpoint pens, pencils, highlighters. Now we just found out that they're making hoodies now with the strings for the hoods. There's a vape hidden in there. The Apple Watch bands, there's a vape hidden in there. Cell phone cases, there's a vape hidden in there. And there's water bottles, there's a vape hidden in there. So they're still coming up with these ways that, okay, oh, my child says they want this hoodie. Oh, it's so cute. Oh, yeah, I'll buy that for them. They have good grades. You don't even know that you just bought your child a vape.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Okay, so we just had somebody on who was saying that he dumps out his grandkids' backpacks and does a check like randomly. And I thought, oh, that's smart. And I immediately thought of you because I knew we had talked before about highlighters. Now, this whole hoodie and Apple Watch band business is definitely news to me. What are parents supposed to do when there's all of these changing delivery methods? Like, I mean, what are you supposed to do? If you look closely at the air quotes highlighter, can you tell it's a vape pin? Like, do you have any strategies for parents to be able to identify a vape when they see it?

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Whoever was here and they empty out their grandchildren's thing, I applaud them. I wish I could meet them and give them a big hug. I can arrange that. Please do. That's what our parents need to do. And just because it falls out and it's like, oh, it looks like a bin, I'm telling you, so pick it up. Pick it up, open it, smell it. A highlighter should not smell like strawberries, mangoes, but it shouldn't smell, it should smell like a highlighter. Sometimes I know when I was in school, my mom used to label all my stuff. I would put labels on there in my handwriting and be like, okay, this is what I bought them. It's unfortunate that we have to be this strict, but this is a big epidemic that's affecting our youth. And the tobacco companies are becoming smarter and smarter, and they know how to advertise to the kids, and it's right there in our faces. The advertisements are on YouTube. They're seeing the stuff on the video games, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook. How many times have, say, your child's looking up the hoodie that their friend is told them, oh yeah, it's a vape in there. Your mom will never know. How many times? I know I've been on Facebook where I'm like looking on iBuy Direct for my glasses. And when I scroll on Facebook, the ads right there. It's right there in our faces, but it's going over the adult's head, and you don't really know unless you're getting educated on it. So I would do that, and I would actually have an open conversation with my kids and be like, hey, what's going on in school? Have you heard about this? I would start informing my child, like, do you know what's in this? Because a lot of things too, the vapes cause immediate lung problems. So your first time doing it, you can have an onset of lung issues right then and there. There's no people like, well, how long does it take for my lungs to look like this? Because usually in our presentations, we walk around with different jars that show like tar, phlegm, what the lungs look like, popcorn lungs. So they're like, well, that says that this won't happen in 20 years. Well, guess what? With a vape, this can happen in 20 seconds, 20 milliseconds, the moment that we touch. You get it. A vape can crystallize your lungs. Just think about that. That's crazy. That's insane. And people do not know this. They a lot of them are just thinking that they're taking the next step to eventually stop, but they don't.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

So I have a couple of questions because you said, you know, parents, you want them to educate themselves. So I have a few rapid fire. Can we do rapid fire? Is that okay? We can try. Okay, we can try. Okay. Because I have a few questions based on things that I've heard other parents say, based on things I've heard teenagers say. One of them is that, you know, parents who maybe don't really buy into that it's a big deal. Maybe the parent vapes themselves, but they say, hey, we were all kids once. We snuck a few cigarettes, we drank some wine coolers. Isn't this just kids being kids?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

You should always want your kids to be better than you. I know for sure we've had some parents come to us and say, Hey, I caught my child smoking cigarettes, so I bought them a vape because they thought that it was better. So then I have my handout right here. We'll give them this handout and let them read it. And they're like, oh my gosh, like, this is what I'm giving my kids. Yes, this is what you're giving them. If your child has an addiction, how about y'all come together and try to become a smoke-free household?

SPEAKER_00 19:39

So, rapid fire question number two is a lot of kids are struggling with their mental health. I mean, 2020 did a number on all of us in the years after that, right? So the kid says, but it helps me feel calm. How do you respond to that? How do you respond to a kid that says, But mom, dad, you know how I had those panic attacks? Well, I don't have them anymore because I vape now.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

It's great that your child even feels comfortable enough to have those conversations with you because a lot of children will be like, Oh no, I don't do that. No, no, no, no, no. And then you find out when it's too late. However, after that, I would go to my pediatrician and take my child to the doctor and be like, hey, my child told me that they're having this issue, these issues. They thought the solution was vaping, but I'm not going to allow that to be their solution. What other things can I do? We also offer a peer support group called SWAT, which stands for students working against tobacco. They can come up there with us for our community-wide program and we'll start helping them, but they can also get treatments and referrals from their pediatrician. So that's great that your child feels comfortable enough to have that conversation with you. However, that is not the solution to that. There's many more healthier and better solutions out there to just end this stigma and this epidemic.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Talk to me about the brain development piece, because you mentioned earlier that you the brain doesn't develop to age 25. And I I have I may or may not have mentioned that to some teenagers in my life. And you know what? It didn't hit, it didn't land. They were like, I don't care. I was like, you're basically a drunk person. She didn't care. So how can we help young people understand what they're doing to their bodies? It doesn't appear that fear tactics work. What does work?

SPEAKER_01 21:30

I think you should actually bring them up to us and we can show them the the real deal. We have displays and everything. We have pig lungs that show a healthy lung versus an unhealthy lung. We have stories.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

We we really are trying to Tell me a story of something like tell me a story that a parent can easily repeat to their kid.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Well, if you go to our website, we have several stories of different kids. We have a lot of I know this probably will hit the boys really hard. We have a few students who wanted to try vaping. This boy on our page, he was a great athlete. He could have gotten signed to D1 school. He started vaping, he started getting the lung issues, shortness of breath, lost it all. Everybody's like, oh yes, my child is going to be, he they're gonna get signed for football, they're gonna get signed for basketball. Well, if you're sitting there letting your child smoke, they may not even be able to have the lung capacity to uphold these sports at a college level, yet alone if they're going to college, they're going to still have academics. Vaping can distract them from the academia, it can make them more aggressive, it can actually cause mental health issues, anxiety issues. So, yes, a child may say, Well, it helps me, it's really making it worse. There's another story on there where a young man, he actually had to get a long removed. And he was, I believe, he was in his early 20s. And he started in either he started as an adolescent. So that right there getting a long removed, and you've only lived probably like a quarter of your life. That when I saw that, that was eye-opening, you know, the stomachs, the holes in your neck. You don't want to walk around with that at a young age. Like you're pretty much cutting your lifespan short right there, just for what a fad that's going on right now. And then by the time they have children, unfortunately, it may be something else out there. So if you go to our webpage at tobaccofreeflorda.com, we have a lot of stories, or you can have them come up to the health department to see us ladies up there. You can ask for me, Jasmine, the youth coordinator, Bria, or our supervisor Angel. And we have a lot of models that we can show them. We have handouts, we have we have all the resources you need. We do not mind pulling you to the side over there and doing a whole lunch. We can go out to eat and talk about it, but the models are not good looking. So I don't think you're gonna eat with that, but we do not mind educating you. We do not care. There's been times we're sitting in the office and we're just like, oh, our phone's ringing. Oh, can you come up here? We found our child is vaping and we're gonna do a meeting really quick in the community. Okay, we grab our bag and we're there. Let's go. There'll be days that our schedule is just empty, and I was like, I got two calls today about vaping. Come on, let's go. We do not mind dropping what we're doing. That's what we're here for. That's why all of us who work there and all of us who are in this field, this is our passion. This is we all have something or someone in our life that this has affected us. So we do not mind dropping what we're doing. There's times when I'm just walking around Walmart with my Tobacco Free Florida shirt on or my health department shirt, and people just stop me. We've been doing partnerships with barbershops. And like I said, the apartment complexes, there's times where we go to the barbershop to drop off stuff, and somebody's like, oh my gosh, I'm trying to stop smoking. Like, if you want to talk about it, we're ready to talk.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Well, I'm glad that you came here today to talk about it because parents, you know, they they have a lot on their plate and we don't want them to feel like they have to do it all themselves.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

And they don't. They have us. We're always here.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Was there anything else you want to add before we wrap today?

SPEAKER_01 25:08

If you find that your child is smoking, vaping is not a safer alternative. Instead, we can help you and your youth quit for good. There is no safe level of tobacco usage. I will also say that you can go to your pediatrician office, you can go to cdc.gov, you can visit us at tobaccofreeflorida.com, or you can visit us at the health department. Like I said, you can ask for me at any time. My email is jasmine.sems at Floridahealth.gov, or you can call me at 850-316-2758. We're also recruiting for kids for our youth organization that I mentioned earlier, SWAT. It's pretty much we want our youth and the community to de-glamorize the tobacco industry and speak up into the schools about vaping. Also, we're allowed to speak to middle and high schoolers. So if there's an administrator that's listening right now that would like for us to make an actual chapter on your campus, please feel free to reach out to our SWOT coordinator, Bria Bass. Her email is Bria.bass at Floridahealth.gov and her number is 850-316-2771. But if you forget any of this, we will be leaving information behind. So just the main thing to remember is tobacco free Florida or at least the health department. And all you have to do is walk up there and say cigarettes, vape, anything. They will know who to find. It's like the bat signal.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Pretty much. Thank you, Jasmine. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Thank you for having me here today.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.