English teacher Teresa Davis passed back graded papers to her junior English students. She noticed an odd fruity scent wafting through her classroom, but she didn’t think much of it.
A student sat in the back corner chewing on what appeared to be an pen when Assistant Principal Shannon Auten walked in the room. Auten walked over and escorted the student out of the room.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” Davis said. “It felt so amazing to me that a kid had been smoking an e-cigarette right in front of me, and I didn’t even know. Electronic cigarettes look exactly like ink pens.”
The latest N.C. Youth Tobacco Survey has shown a statewide drop in the number of students smoking cigarettes, but a signifcant increase in teenagers using electronic -cigarettes or e-cigs and vaporizers.
High school students’ use of cigarettes statewide has decreased dramatically from 13 percent in 2002 to 5.6 percent in 2013. The increase in the number of students using e-cigs has been even more dramatic, increasing from 1.7 percent in 2011 to 7.7 percent in 2013.
According to a Wingspan survey of 536 students, 25 percent of students at West have tried e-cigs at least once while 10 percent currently use them.
A national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2013 reported that nationwide 4.5 percent of high school students consistently used e-cigs and 11.9 percent have tried them at least once.
Currently, nine percent of West students smoke cigarettes compared to 12.7 percent nationwide, while 21 percent of West students have tried cigarette smoking compared to 34.7 percent nationwide.
“My friends at school interested me in starting to smoke cigarettes. I switched over to e-cigs because they don’t smell, and I can do it wherever I want,” a junior at West who asked that his name not appear, said, “I think there has been an increase in e-cig use because they’re more convenient and can cost less. I started smoking not because of peer pressure but just to hop on the bandwagon. I could stop if I really wanted to, but I just get bored.”
The electronic cigarette trend has caught the attention of students, teachers and school officials. The Henderson County Board of Education changed the school system’s tobacco policy to include e-cigs and vaporizers when the devices started to show up on school campuses last spring.
All school system buildings are designated with signs that read, “Tobacco is prohibited.”
“I started smoking cigarettes when I was 12 because when I would go over to my grandfather’s house he would always be smoking,” junior Jacob Washington said. “I stole one at first, and then he just let me try them. I started to try e–cigarettes because my friends influenced me to do so, and I could use them without my mom getting mad at me. Breaking the addiction is impossible. I can’t go over four hours without a nicotine intake. Even though I know all the health issues and consequences, I don’t care.”
The board of education in nearby Haywood County recently voted to list vaporizers and e-cigarettes as drug paraphernalia, and possession of one warrants a more serious punishment than tobacco use.
“Certainly within our health education courses we try to warn against the dangers of tobacco use,” Principal Dean Jones said. “But still, all people have free will and freedom of choice, and we’re never going to change that. We certainly have to have rules and restrictions as to what goes on within the school.”
The national trend and data from the Wingspan survey have shown the decrease in the use of cigarettes and the increase in the use of e-cigs.
“I think that teens use e–cigarettes more than actual cigarettes because they think that it isn’t the same, but in reality, it still has the same chemicals and a lot of nicotine,” junior Sydney Hogan said. “People think it isn’t as bad because it is an e–cigarette. They think that because it sounds different, that it doesn’t have the same chemicals in it. Their ignorance is misleading them.”
According to an article from Daily Burn, a website dedicated to fitness, health and lifestyle, misleading assumptions have led students to believe that e–cigs do not cause serious health problems compared to the use of cigarettes. E-cigs and vaporizers are usually advertised as an alternate way to get the desired nicotine fix without inhaling the chemically contaminated smoke.
The website reported that the vapor from e–cigs may be full of lung irritants that can cause asthma symptoms and chronic cough. E-cigs appeal to a younger and healthier crowd for the potential of weight loss, mood boost and increased heart rate, the site said.
“We don’t know what’s in (the e-cigarette vapors) because they are not regulated and the manufacturers are not yet required to tell what’s in the solution,” Dr. Norman Edelman, senior consultant for scientific affairs at the American Lung Association was quoted in the Daily Burn article.
Many consumers may not be aware that e–cigarette liquid ingredients contain a higher concentration of nicotine than normal cigarettes. Such high levels of nicotine could lead to constricted blood vessels and reduction of lung capacity. The article also reported that e-cigs seem to have fewer immediate health concerns, but they’re connected to more long-term health issues, like hindered brain development, cardiac complications and lung cancer.
“The worst thing it can cause is death. Smoking causes multiple cancers and respiratory issues. Smoke can be a trigger to people with asthma who are very susceptible to smoke. All the carcinogens will stick to your clothing,” school nurse Kim Berry said. “Babies and toddlers have died in this way from inhaling the toxins while they have asthma. A lot of the effects are long term.”
According to Berry, public service announcements regarding tobacco use are becoming more prevalent, but she is unsure how effective they are.
“I really like the tru TV commercials (PSA) with actual people who’ve lost their voice box or have experienced something due to tobacco use,” Berry said. “I’d say they do make an impression, but still not as much as peer pressure. Real examples are way more effective.”
By Rachel Raasch and Kayla Petri
