Vaping Dangers Outlined

SEA ISLE CITY – Over 150 county civic, law enforcement, social work, and education representatives attended a presentation to learn more about e-cigarettes and “vaping.”
The presentation, spearheaded by Sea Isle City’s Municipal Alliance, was held at the former public school building on Park Road Feb. 8.
Local elected officials, including Freeholders Jeffrey Pierson and E. Marie Hayes, along with Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton, joined Mayor Leonard Desiderio who welcomed the gathering. Desiderio is also freeholder vice director.
While children as young as elementary school eschew the dangers of tobacco cigarettes, having heard of its many risks, many, according to keynote speaker, Douglas Collier, think e-cigarettes such as the popular “Juul” brand are harmless.
Collier, a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent, who teaches at Monmouth University, gave a presentation entitled, “What’s Smoking in New Jersey?” about the state-of-play regarding an exploding trend among youth to engage in vaping.
“Regardless of how you feel about e-cigarettes and marijuana, my goal today is to get you the facts so we can combat the false news that vaping is not detrimental to young people’s health,” said Collier. “We all want to protect our children and get them to make good decisions. However, there has been a lot of misrepresentation about vaping which is very addictive and many, especially our children, are not informed about the consequences.”
According to slides and videos shown by Collier, when liquid nicotine is transformed into vapor, it produces no vapor or smoke, so it is essentially undetected when used. This allows users to inhale with no repercussions such as in a classroom.
Other “advantages” of vaping are that it is a discrete activity, even in the midst of a crowd. It’s easy to obtain. It’s deemed “safe” to one’s health, and it produces a high.
Collier gave the example of taking his 16-year-old son to Atlantic City, giving him his own credit card and experimenting that his son would be able to buy a Juul package without problem. The experiment proved how simple access is to these products, branded and marketed with slick, trendy packaging designed to appeal to young people.
Purchase of these products is illegal in New Jersey before the age of 21. The state is one of six to have legislated this relatively high-age restriction. The others are California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii and Maine, along with hundreds of U.S. municipalities.
The medical effects of vaping are serious and include coughing, chest pain, high blood pressure, and vomiting. The nicotine used in the vaping “pens” to deliver this addictive chemical can be flavored by other drugs which sometimes can be safe to ingest but not to inhale.
While the immediate signs of vaping are undetectable, there are other signs that can allow parents to deduce that their child is vaping – fruity, floral or other scents on their child’s clothing that have been used to flavor the nicotine; “pens” that are masquerading as ink pens or even USBs; continual thirst; nose bleeds; and new sensitivity to caffeine such as in energy drinks.
The danger of the pens exploding as the chemicals mix in the heating atomizer to produce the vapors, or the lithium-ion battery used to create the power to deliver the nicotine through the pen cartridge catching on fire have also become prevalent occurrences.
“The new game-changer of vaping is that they are now being used to deliver illegal drugs such as marijuana or even narcotics,” explained Collier. “Over and above the cancer-causing chemicals found in e-cigarettes, these narcotics present well-known risks and dangers.”
The benefits of e-cigarettes have been touted as an alternative to tobacco cigarettes, although there is on-going research that substantiates their dangers to health. The World Health Organization has joined other voices in raising this alarm, and while the long-term effects are not yet known, there is clear indication that health and addiction problems will be substantial as the use of e-cigarettes increases.
Collier concluded by noting that “the most effective prevention method we’ve found is peer-to-peer coalitions where other students talk about their experiences. As we’ve seen in these video clips, once a young person, whose decision-making and brain development is still not fully formed, starts vaping, the detrimental health implications and even addiction begin almost immediately. We in this room want the best for all children so let’s get the word out and protect them.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.