Recognizing that teenagers are vaping tobacco at increasing rates, Jefferson County schools have launched a program to outline the dangers, provide tips to avoid vaping and explain the lure.
Vaping Equals, the name of the campaign, will be targeted at middle and high school students.
Vaping equals smoking 20 cigarettes worth of addictive nicotine in one refillable Juul pod, JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio said in a statement. Vaping equals devices that may explode while in use. Vaping equals known and unknown health effects. And while many teens believe that vaping is a safe habit, electronic cigarettes contain nicotine and chemicals and are just as addictive as traditional ones.
Students will be given skills-based health lessons to explore the consequences of vaping, understand how companies in the e-cigarette industry target young people, and give them refusal strategies, the statement said. Also, the message will be sent through posters in middle and high schools, a website vapingequals.com and through social media.
Read LEOs story V is for Vaping, What You Dont Know About Your Teens New Habit to learn about how local public and private schools have long been grappling with the rise in teen vaping.
This article appears in April 24, 2019.