Gazette Editorial: Don’t be fooled by Juul
The “epidemic of youth e-cigarette use” that sparked action last week by the Food and Drug Administration clouds Big Sky Country, too.
“Juuling” is popular among Montana high school students, and even some middle school students say they are using e-cigarettes. Many adults may be unaware of Juul, a type of e-cigarette that is a pod containing nicotine and flavors delivered in a sleek, shiny holder that looks like a flash drive. It comes in flavors such as cool cucumber, fruit medley and mango, and it packs a big dose of highly addictive nicotine. The nicotine salts in Juul deliver nicotine to the user faster than the type of nicotine in regular cigarettes.
No wonder that Juul, which was introduced to the U.S. market in June 2015, has been a big hit with youth.
Nearly half of Montana high school students said they had used e-cigarettes, according to the most recent biennial Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which was taken in spring 2017. At that time, those who had used e-cigarettes said they had obtained them by borrowing from someone else, purchasing at a store, giving someone else money to make the purchase, received the e-cigarette from someone over age 18 or got it on the internet.
More recently, Billings high school students have told RiverStone tobacco prevention specialists that they think 90 percent of their friends are using e-cigarettes, according to Claire Oakley, director of health promotion for RiverStone Health. When the prevention specialists spoke to high school groups this spring, most students said they had used e-cigarettes and estimated that 90 percent of their peers are using them. Oakley said the actual usage may be less than 90 percent, but teens have a perception that nearly everybody’s doing it.
“A lot of e-cigarette users also use traditional tobacco,” Oakley said. She worries that children and teens who start using tobacco and nicotine in Juul and other e-cigarettes will become addicted and begin smoking.
“There is real concern about the developing brain and that brains aren’t fully developed till age 25 or 26,” Oakley said, noting that people who haven’t started smoking by age 26 are unlikely to start ever.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb was blunt last week in announcing a “historic action against more than 1,300 retailers and five major manufacturers for their roles in perpetuating youth access” to e-cigarettes: “We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion.”
Considering that Gottlieb is part of an administration that is getting rid of government regulations as fast as possible, the commissioner’s crack down on e-cigarettes indicates the extreme health concerns about children and teens getting hooked on e-cigarettes.
In particular, the FDA will review the pass it gave e-cigarette manufacturers on their flavored products. “I believe certain flavors are one of the principal drivers of the youth appeal of these products,” Gottlieb said. “While we remain committed to advancing policies that promote the potential of e-cigarettes to help adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes, that work can’t come at the expense of kids.”
The “pod mod” e-cigarettes, including Juul, advertise nicotine content that is 2-10 times greater than other e-cigarettes, according to an article in the August New England Journal of Medicine.
Nonsmoking adolescents who use e-cigarettes are more likely to start smoking regular cigarettes within a year, according to research involving more than 10,000 youth ages 12-17. The study conducted by Shannon Watkins, Ben Chaffee and Stanton A. Glantz of the University of California San Francisco found that youth using any alternative tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco, are more likely to be smoking one year later than their peers who didn’t vape or chew.
The FDA should use its lawful authority to stop the sale of e-cigarette products with flavors immediately. Adolescents are snapping up these highly addictive pods and flashy cartridges.
Montana voters should take note that one purpose of Initiative 185 on the November ballot is to reduce youth use of tobacco and e-cigarette products. By significantly increasing the state tax on these products, I-185 will effectively raise the price. Research has shown that youth are much more price sensitive than adults who use tobacco. In other words, a tobacco and e-cigarette tax increase is expected to reduce use more among teens than among adults.
Here in Montana, young people and their parents need good information about what’s in that e-cigarette and its emissions. Tell your tweens and teens not to be fooled by Juul. It’s packed with one of the most highly addictive substances around.