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Jon Chaffee of the Partners for Prevention in Allegany
County (PPAC) makes a point about the skyrocketing use of addictive
e-cigarettes by young people at a free “Combating Drugs, Alcohol and Vaping”
public awareness presentation Thursday at the Hope Center in Wellsville, as
co-presenter Ann Weaver of the Allegany Council on Alcoholism and Substance
Abuse (ACASA) looks on.
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WELLSVILLE -- E-cigarette,
or vaping, use is skyrocketing among teenagers as they falsely see it as being
safer than cigarettes and find its use easier to hide, even in school classroom
settings.
This was a message Thursday as Jon Chaffee of the Partners for Prevention in
Allegany County (PPAC) and Ann Weaver of the Allegany Council on Alcoholism and
Substance Abuse (ACASA) provided a community awareness assessment on “Combating
Drugs, Alcohol and Vaping” at the Hope Center in Wellsville.
A repeat of the presentation will occur from 6:30 p.m. to 8
p.m. Tuesday, April 16, at the new Center at 4194 Bolivar Road – Suite 5.
Pre-registration for limited seating for adults only is available at
bps461@msn.com or (484) 435-0503.
Chaffee said a federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) report shows that over a quarter of all high school students
were using a tobacco product last year, with 20.8 percent involved in vaping,
compared with declining cigarette use of 8.1 percent.
The change, he said, is due to a misconception that
e-cigarettes aren't as harmful as regular cigarettes and the marketing and
packaging, including flavors, that vape companies have developed.
Part of the false assumptions are derived from a recent
study that found that e-cigarettes are less harmful for current smokers who
switch 100 percent to vaping only, the educator said.
This point is being promoted by sellers who ignore
additional findings that e-cigarettes aren't less harmful for people who have
never smoked traditional cigarettes, he said, noting that 40 percent of current
vape users between the ages of 18 and 24 have never smoked cigarettes.
He also pointed out that e-cigarette use is more common
among youth than adults, with the product being promoted as a new lifestyle.
Due to lack of regulation, Chaffee said, products can
contain various amounts of nicotine, saying a recent study found adolescent
users of Juul and similar “pod” e-cigarettes are absorbing this addictive
substance at levels approaching that of nicotine in traditional cigarettes.
Kids are understanding that regular cigarettes are dangerous
but not understanding they can become addicted through e-cigarettes, he said.
Two-thirds of teens who vape, according to the presenter,
say they do it because of the choice of several thousand vaping flavors being
sold.
The product is able to be concealed easily through devices
that look like computer flash drives, mascara sticks, highlighters and other
shapes and colors, he reported, with youth able to vape, even in a classroom,
and unobtrusively puff the smoke into a shirt.
Chaffee and Weaver both addressed the damage that nicotine,
alcohol and drugs can do to sections of teen brains which are responsible for
decision making, reasoning, inhibitory control and personality.
Although many youth may be viewed as being able to make good
decisions, full development of these brain sections, on average, isn't complete
until age 25, they said, noting that various types of substance abuse re-wires
the brain and affects long-term judgment and other functions.
Weaver noted that April is Alcohol Awareness Month, with alcohol
also affecting the brain.
Youth from all backgrounds can be negatively impacted by
alcohol and never get the treatment they need because parents are in denial or
are afraid of the stigma associated with such help.
“Parents still are
huge influencers over their children,” she said, but over half of New York
State students in grades seven through 12 say their parents have never talked
with them about the dangers of underage drinking. Youth also may not absorb such
discussions even when parents feel they are making this effort, thus requiring
repeated attempts.
Children who start drinking before the age of 15, she said,
are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence, noting that moving
from middle school to high school is also a period of greatest risk.
“When kids don't get
the direction and discipline they need from parents, they get the direction
from other influences,” the educator said.
Over time, Weaver noted, alcohol kills more people than drug
overdoses because it “rots the body from the inside out,” with alcohol
dependent individuals often not recognizing the problem until it is too late.
The “Combating Drugs, Alcohol and Vaping” presentation is
part of the Hope Center's free April focus series on Kids Dangers, which
includes “Childproofing Your Home,” “Dangers of Early Childhood Trauma as
Children Age,” and “Facts and Myths About Child Protective Services.” It also
is re-presenting “Help Struggling Readers Read” and “Is It Dyslexia” from last
month's reading assistance focus, along with “Developing True Communities of
Care in Churches” and other organizations. The full schedule is available
at
www.facebook.com/HopeCenterAlleganyCounty.
The Hope Center, which includes information and referral and
reading assistance in addition to its education center, currently is open from
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, by appointment, and for daytime and evening
presentations, workshops and seminars. It is an outreach ministry of Mission
Genesee Valley, a coalition of Allegany County churches, other Christian
organizations and individuals seeking community transformation and revival.
Services are free and available to all persons, regardless of faith background.
