Vaping 101: A Q&A Guide for Parents and Teachers on the Dangers of Vaping

Welcome to Vaping 101. As a physician and a parent, I know that you have questions about vaping. This comprehensive guide was designed to answer all of your questions and more – it will educate you on vaping and arm you with the information you need to educate your family and friends in hopes that they decide to stop or, hopefully, never even start to use electronic cigarettes. This guide contains a review of the latest research and surveys to provide the most accurate information, but more importantly, we break it down into plain language so that you and your teens (or young adults) will both be able to understand why vaping is such a dangerous activity. We have spent the past several months educating the public at town hall gatherings. After speaking with hundreds of school nurses, teachers, students, and concerned parents about the vaping epidemic, we are confident that this guide will answer all your questions. The vaping epidemic is real.The 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) indicated that two million middle and high school students reported e-cigarette use at least once in the previous 30 days. Among high school students who admitted to vaping, nearly 45% reported at least every-other-day use and 27.6% reported daily use[i]. The survey allowed students to indicate their e-cigarette brand of choice with the following results: 26.1% of high school students indicated Puff Bar was their usual brand, 10.8% reported Vuse, 9.6% preferred SMOK, and 5.7% chose JUUL. 15.6% of high school users reported not knowing what brand they used. Among middle school users, 30.3% reported their regular brand was Puff Bar, 12.5% preferred JUUL, and 19.3% indicated not knowing the brand they used regularly. Among all users of all types of e-cigarettes (disposables, cartridge or pod type, or refillable tanks) the top flavors reported were fruit, followed by candy, desserts, or other sweets.The NYTS survey conducted in 2022 revealed that 16.5% of high school students indicated they used a tobacco product within the previous