By Yelena Bagdasaryan, Intern at Kentucky Youth Advocates

As Kentucky counties are heading back to school, there is a buzz of anticipation and excitement for students to be back in the classrooms and with their peers. However, the start of classes also reignites concerns for student’s health, specifically their use of e-cigarettes or vapes. 

The use of vapes has increased dramatically, creating a new generation of youth that are dependent on nicotine. According to a recent survey, Kentucky’s prevalence of youth vaping is higher than the national average. The age that young people are trying vapes is getting younger as 9.4% of Kentucky students said they first tried a vape in 6th grade and 13.1% in 8th grade. 

These products are becoming more readily available for our youth and affect everyone in Kentucky schools, regardless if they do not use an e-cigarette themselves. Therefore, educators across Kentucky are concerned as these devices are easy to conceal in schools and teachers are confiscating more and more everyday. 

Even with the prevalence of vaping devices in schools growing, research tells us that punishment is not the answer. In fact, severe penalties such as expulsion or suspension actually perpetuate negative mental health and increase substance use. On the other hand, educators that approach students that use tobacco products in a supportive way increase the likelihood that these students will quit.

There are strategies that Kentucky schools can use to help reduce vaping and tobacco use.

  • Promote tobacco prevention programs offered by the Kentucky Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, including free resources to Kentuckians that want to quit, and other educational programs like My Life, My Quit, which offers free one-on-one coaching to stop using tobacco products and support ones that are already addicted. 
  • Contact with local health departments to ask if they offer tobacco education for students. 
  • Support programs and mental health initiatives in schools that motivate students to quit vaping and using nicotine products, rather than punishing youth for using these products. Teachers can take part in programs such as INDEPTH: An Alternative to Suspension or Citation and N-O-T: Not On Tobacco to learn effective strategies to help their students quit. 
  • Participate in programs such as University of Kentucky’s #ICanEndTheTrend to educate students about the dangers of nicotine use and how to encourage peers to quit. 

These programs and strategies are key to decreasing the prevalence of tobacco and nicotine use among youth, and as a result ensure that the future generation of Kentucky is healthy.  

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