There are outbreaks of respiratory vaping-related illnesses with the death toll being 26. What makes vaping harder to treat than other drug addiction is that there is no evidence of how to help young people quit. By seeing how hard vaping can be to quit, this shows all the more reason we need to find ways to prevent youth from touching an e-cigarette.
Why is Vaping So Hard to Quit?
Many e-cigarette devices have high concentrations of nicotine and are smoother to inhale than cigarettes. Nicotine in e-cigarettes goes down smoothly because Juul vaporizes a liquid that has nicotine salts. Nicotine salt does not cause irritation to the lungs and throats as cigarettes do. Each Juul pod has 59 milligrams of nicotine per millimeter of liquid. Juul Labs says that one pod is equal to a pack of cigarettes. If you can get through a pod in less than two hours, you are absorbing a lot of nicotine. E-cigarettes also do not have the nasty smell of cigarettes and emit a scent of fruit or other flavors or no odor at all.
What Should Youth Do to Quit Now?
Understand your triggers and stay away from people who will vape in front of you. The only people you should surround yourself with are your friends, family, and people on the same journey to quit. Make sure you are surrounded by people who support your journey. Nicotine-replacement therapy is also a good strategy to reduce nicotine cravings like nicotine patches, gums, nasal spray, or lozenges. While nicotine-replacement therapy is really supposed to be for people who are over 18, you could still ask a doctor about it.
What Should Concerned Parents Not Do?
Do not exaggerate about the health effects of vaping. Let your children know there are products in these e-cigarettes that have an effect on their physiology. Nicotine is still highly addictive and can make you more susceptible to substance abuse in the future since your brain stops developing at 25. Let your children know the facts and how powerful nicotine can be in any form. More studies need to be done to figure out how to get children to quit e-cigarettes to avoid them turning to gateway drugs when they are older.
Located in Georgetown, Texas, Alma Loma is a transformative living center to help those struggling in early recovery to transition out of our Psychiatric and Substance Abuse residential center. Alma Loma believes that addiction is born from an untreated mental illness in which our facility is here to help you. Our facility offers residency, medication management education, individualized treatment, life skills education, 12-step support, and more tools to bring patients the confidence to be able to live an independent life. For more information, please call us at 866-457-3843.
