By Sherry Larson

People’s Defender

She was a former high school and college athlete playing in multiple sports. She started vaping at age 14. It was the new thing – the cool thing – the healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes – right? Wrong!

Twelve years later, with an inhaler and mounting health issues, she said, “The amount of nicotine I was consuming was so intense, my body will always crave it.” She openly describes vaping as idiotic and says you don’t know what is going into your body.

The Surgeon General reports that “Tobacco use remains the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S. and around the world.” Every year, nearly half a million Americans die from its use and over eight million people worldwide. “Tobacco costs the U.S. over $241 billion in healthcare expenditures each year.”

A current Adams County Medical Foundation public service announcement encouraging parents and caregivers to talk to children about the dangers of vaping says, “One in seven high schoolers currently use e-cigarettes, also known as vapes. Most of these students vape every day, putting them at risk for nicotine addiction, which may negatively affect their attention, learning ability, and memory. Despite what kids think – vaping is not safe!”

According to the most recent OHYES data obtained from the answers provided by Adams County students in 7th – 12th grades, 36% of the students who answered said they engage in vaping.

Tami Graham, Chair of the Adams County Medical Foundation, has worked extensively to negate vaping among the youth in Adams County. The Interact for Health grant offered the ability to run the INDEPTH Program –“Intervention for Nicotine Dependence: Education, Prevention, Tobacco, and Health (INDEPTH) is a new, convenient alternative to suspension or citation that helps schools and communities address the teen vaping problem in a more supportive way. Instead of solely focusing on punitive measures, INDEPTH is an interactive program that teaches students about nicotine dependence, establishing healthy alternatives, and how to kick the unhealthy addiction that got them in trouble in the first place.” (lung.org)

The first INDEPTH program conducted in Manchester Local Schools resulted in graduating 19 students. Twelve people in Adams County are certified to teach vaping cessation.

Graham said that despite the end of grant funding, the Adams County Youth Prevention Coalition is committed to reducing youth vaping in Adams County. Preventing vaping is vital, and determining why kids vape is critical. Our interviewee shed some light and explained that at an early age, vaping became a coping skill for her mental health issues. Graham discussed programs such as art and music therapy that could be beneficial and give youth more coping strategies.

According to an Association of Ohio Health Commissioners, Inc. document, House Bill 33 made changes to “prohibitions against the sale of flavored tobacco products to youth, regulation of the sale of vaping products, and escalating schedule of fines for violations under this section, directing collected fines to the Tobacco Prevention Fund, for use in tobacco prevention efforts. Tobacco use by youth continues to be on the rise in Ohio, especially the use of flavored tobacco products via vaping. According to the HPIO Health Value Dashboard, Ohio invests 10.6% of what the CDC recommends for state tobacco prevention and control.”

Tobaccofreekids.org reported this month, “Most states continue to shortchange programs to prevent kids from using tobacco products and help tobacco users quit even as they have reached over $1.1 billion in legal settlements with e-cigarette maker Juul that could be used for this purpose, according to a new report released today. Maine is the only state to fully fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs at levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only eight other states provide at least 50% of the CDC’s recommended funding, while 31 states and the District of Columbia are spending less than a quarter of the CDC recommendation.” Ohio ranks 40th out of the 50 states.

At less than a quarter of the CDC recommendation, are Ohio lawmakers failing our youth? Read the full report at https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what-we-do/us/statereport/ – and you decide.