VAPING: How to Keep Youth Safe

Youth vaping has skyrocketed: 28% of high school students were current users in 2019. Vaping products are battery-operated devices that deliver nicotine and flavorings and come in many shapes and sizes.

How to create a safe environment:

• Monitor your teen’s online activity for vape purchases and social media shares.

• Get the facts: vapes contain ingredients that are addictive and harmful, including nicotine, heavy metals, and chemicals that can cause cancer and permanent lung damage. Visit Know the Risks: E-Cigarettes & Young People for details. 

• Support the minimum legal age of 21 for tobacco products. If your teen knows you disapprove, they will be less likely to use nicotine. 

• Set a positive example by being tobacco-free. For free help, visit www.smokefree.gov or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW. Help for teens to quit is available too.

Some tips on what you can say to your teen:

• Talk about addiction. Nicotine is the third most addictive drug, after heroin and cocaine. 

• Focus on brain development. Nicotine can train your developing brain to be more easily addicted to other drugs. Other long-term effects include problems with memory, concentration, impulse control, and mood.

• Let them know that all vapes are not tested for safety and ingredients. Vaping products are not currently regulated. This means that no government agency tests the devices for safety or accuracy of ingredients, including level of nicotine. JUUL always contains nicotine: each pod has the nicotine equivalent of an entire pack of cigarettes!

• "Don’t be a lab rat!" Vaping products are fairly new, so there is not much research on health effects. There have been thousands of cases of vaping-related illnesses among youth, causing hospitalization and even death.  

• Encourage them to think about deceptive marketing practices that target them. Vaping products come in flavors that appeal to youth + social media marketing = teens who vape are 4 times more likely to become cigarette smokers. Don’t fall for big tobacco’s marketing to youth!

• "Vaping isn't safe. Period." Vapes contain the same cancer-causing ingredients as cigarettes. In addition, they contain heavy metals and chemicals that can cause permanent lung damage.

• Support your teens and their friends to quit. There are free resources for teens to quit vaping: This is Quitting (text QUIT to 202-804-9884), SmokeFree TXT for Teens, QuitStart Mobile App, or the WI Tobacco Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW).