Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 00:00):
How dangerous is vaping? What should you do if you find out your kid vapes? How does vaping affect your teen’s health? All that and more, on this episode of Because They’re Kids.
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Welcome back to Because They’re Kids, the podcast that’s built just for kids, and their parents. I’m your host, Anne Baum, mom of two, and president of Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital. I’m excited for another episode of our podcast.
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Teen vaping is a concern for parents. That’s why it’s important to understand all the health risks of vaping, and how to navigate having this conversation with your kid to help keep them safe and healthy. Here to help us talk about the dangers of vaping is my guest, Kristen Hoben, manager of Weller Health Education and Foundational Career Programming with Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 00:59):
Thank you for having me, Anne.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 01:01):
We’re so glad you’re here, Kristen. You have a wealth of knowledge from the Weller Health Center. Tell us more about what Weller does, and your role with the organization?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 01:12):
Sure. Weller Health Education has been around for many, many years. We’ve been with Lehigh Valley Health Network [LVHN] since 2017. I’ve been with them as the manager since that time. I manage a team of health educators, who are all public health professionals, who develop the curriculums and present the programs in the schools. We present to K through 12. We do also community events. We do programs for parents. We’re just really trying to speak to parents, and educators, and definitely the kids about all the different health topics that affect their health. Vaping is definitely one of them.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 02:01):
Thank you for that. I love how Weller finds the topics that are affecting kids and develops the curriculum, and then brings it out to kids. They don’t have to go looking for it. It really makes a difference here in our community. Thank you for all of that.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 02:18):
Yeah, absolutely. It’s a great program.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 02:19):
Our topic today is vaping. We hear a lot about it, but I’m not sure everybody knows a lot about it. Tell us, what is it?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 02:30):
Sure. Vaping is another word for e-cigarettes. How that name came to be was when you use an e-cigarette, it gives off a very big cloud, a vapor cloud. That’s how it just got that nickname basically.
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What an e-cigarette or a vape device actually is, and there are lots of different kinds but they all work exactly the same. They’re all powered by a lithium battery that heats up a coil, which heats up the atomizer, and then makes the e-juice or e-liquid – they call it so many different things – turn into an aerosol. What that is, is not actually vapor, it’s actually an aerosol.
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Along with that comes so many different chemicals, and nicotine. There are just so many different types. But again, they all work the same.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 03:30):
So interesting, because vaping is perceived to be safer than smoking. Tell us a little bit more about that.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 03:39):
That comes back to that nickname of a vape, of vapor. This misconception that that big cloud is water vapor, and it is not. As I said, it’s an aerosol.
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The biggest concern with that is these e-liquids. Whether it is a vape device that’s disposable, where you’re not refilling it, or it’s a refillable one – like I said, there’s so many types out there – they all contain this liquid. They’re in lots of different flavors. The chemicals that are used to make those liquids are just endless. There’s thousands and thousands of flavors. What the real danger is, aside from the nicotine obviously, is the heating of those chemicals, it changes them. This is chemistry.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 04:29):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 04:30):
When we’re talking to the kids, we explain that to them. That the chemicals, when heated to the temperature that they have to be heated to [in order] to become an aerosol, they change. Just like there is a chemical reaction, and they can change. You’re putting this into your body, and it’s very dangerous for sure.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 04:50):
It’s possibly more dangerous than smoking, depending on what chemicals someone is putting into their device.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 04:57):
Right. We always say to the kids, this as well. We refer to them as the Guinea Pig Generation. With cigarettes, we know. We’ve had thousands, literally hundreds of [thousands of] patients, and hundreds of years where we have evidence of tobacco use and the effects on the body. We don’t have that with vaping. Yes, we know about nicotine. We know the effects of nicotine on the brain, on the young brain, the developing brain. But what we will not know until many years down the line are the long-term effects of these chemicals.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 05:34):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 05:35):
We tell the kids that. We say we don’t know because that’s how science works, because you need time to find out what those long-term effects will be. While we do know some of the effects based on the fact that nicotine is in these liquids, we won’t know the true long-term effects of all those chemicals.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 06:00):
Sure. When you’re a kid, long-term effects are probably something that doesn’t have a lot of immediate relevance to them.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 06:09):
Absolutely.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 06:09):
What are some of the other myths that exist for vaping that continue to keep these kids using?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 06:15):
The big one is that it’s water vapor, and that it’s safer than tobacco smoke. The other one is that they may not contain nicotine. I know parents, which is great that we’re doing this, because parents really do need to understand that it is rare to find a vape that does not have nicotine.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 06:39):
Interesting.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 06:40):
That is a myth. The addiction piece of it is also. I don’t know so much of a myth, but something that kids don’t fully understand. The addiction to nicotine, and how quickly a young brain does become addicted. That’s something that we tell the kids as well when we’re teaching. We do a vaping program. This year, I think we’ve reached almost 6,000 students …
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 07:09):
Oh, great! Excellent.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 07:10):
… in the Lehigh Valley area. We tell them [with] this nicotine ... “You’re so much younger than me. If you and I started vaping together right now, you’re going to become addicted quicker than I am because of your young brain.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 07:23):
Interesting.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 07:24):
Again, it’s not so much a myth, but something that they. ... Like you said, they’re young. They’re invincible.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 07:31):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 07:32):
So they’re not thinking about that.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 07:34):
Addiction is obviously one of the risks. What are some of the other health risks that go along with vaping?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 07:40):
Yeah. Your lung tissue is very delicate, it’s sensitive. That very hot aerosol irritates the lung tissue very easily. You have much more bronchitis, asthma, different pulmonary diseases that can be exacerbated by using the vape.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 08:04):
Clearly, this is dangerous. What do parents need to know about the various juices and the ingredients? So that they can advise their kids and help reinforce what you’re teaching them.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 08:16):
Yeah, that’s a great question. They need to understand that none of these chemicals are FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approved in any way. However, there is a little bit of a loophole that they use. If you go on some of the sites that sell the e-cigarettes, and the vapes, and different juices, some of them will say that, “These chemicals are FDA approved.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 08:43):
Interesting.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 08:43):
What I found out, through just our own research, is that if they say that, they’re approved for being ingested in small amounts. They are not approved for heating and inhaling into your lungs. There is that little deception on the websites. Sometimes people will say, “No, that is FDA.” No, it’s not. There are no regulations for that at all. They have to be careful of that.
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The other big issue is kids, even younger kids, vaping THC, which is the chemical in marijuana that will get you high. The making of that particular e-liquid that goes in the cartridge uses something called a vitamin E acetate, which has been linked to EVALI, which actually has caused deaths. It’s a lung infection and people have died from that. It’s dangerous. They need to be aware that a lot of these chemicals, and it’s all just coming out as the kids use it, as they get sick. It’s almost too late at that point.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 10:08):
As a parent, you really want to protect your kids against this. It sounds really easy to access, appears to be safe. I am sure that kids can get their hands on this pretty easily. How, as a parent, do you protect your kids?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 10:27):
Yeah. Pennsylvania did raise the age to buy any vape products from 19 to 21.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 10:34):
OK.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 10:36):
Back … maybe four or five years ago. That was a step in the right direction. However, kids are still able to get vape products. There are still plenty of stores that will sell to underage. They just will.
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If you think back, I know my generation, we didn’t have vapes, we had cigarettes. Where did kids get cigarettes if they wanted to try a cigarette? They got them from their parents. They get them from their older siblings. They had people buy it for them. It’s the same exact thing with vaping. Access, they can get it. If there’s a will, there’s a way.
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There is a pretty steep cost. They can be pricey. Just to talk a little bit about the different types of vapes and what they cost. The young kids, the teens, they seem to really want these disposable vapes. They’re not single-use, they’re just not refillable.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 11:37):
OK.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 11:38):
The way they market them is by puffs. One is 100-puff, or this is a 200-puff, and then they’re priced accordingly. But for one that’s 100-puffs, it could cost $12 [or] $15. I don’t know where the kids get the money for these things, quite frankly.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 11:57):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 11:57):
If they have any of these refillable ones, they get very pricey.
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It’s really an accessory as well. ... When people have cellphones, you put a different case on it, and stuff like that, as an accessory. Well, you can do the same thing with some of these vapes. You can get wraps. You can put your favorite team on it, or your dog, or your girlfriend, or something. It’s so much bigger than just the actual vaping.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 12:29):
So it’s a fashion statement, too. Or a cool thing.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 12:33):
It’s a culture. It really, really is.
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This is an interesting point, because it always amazed me when I first heard it. There are states that have banned flavored vapes. You can only get the menthol.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 12:53):
OK.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 12:53):
So there’s no flavors. Pennsylvania is not one of them, but maybe someday. When I was teaching the students and I said, “Oh, a lot of states are banning the flavors, and I think that’ll really be helpful in reducing the number of young people who are vaping, and trying it. Do you agree?” They were like, “No.” I was so deflated. I’m like, “What do you mean no?” We just had a conversation about that. They were like, well they still want to try it. It’s not because it’s flavored.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 13:27):
Interesting.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 13:27):
Right. I went home and I thought to myself, “Well, back in the day, there were no flavored cigarettes.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 13:33):
That’s a good point.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 13:34):
And we all still wanted to try them. Then when you look at the marketing that these ... now it’s Big Tobacco. They have just infinite budgets for marketing. They market directly to the kids. Again, drawing parallels between cigarettes, teens back in the ’80s, to vapes now, cigarettes were never marketed to kids. They were never packaged for kids. If you looked at vapes now, they look like lip gloss, or nail polish. They’re pretty. The packaging is fruity, and it’s very, very pretty. Very esthetically pleasing.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 14:18):
And attractive to them.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 14:24):
So attractive. They have even ones that would appeal more to guys. It’ll be sports cars, or really sleek and silver, the packaging. They even have ones that I saw recently, it’s the gum with the yellow, the Wrigley’s fruit. What’s that gum?
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 14:40):
Oh, Juicy Fruit.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 14:40):
Juicy Fruit, thank you. I couldn’t think of it. They have Juicy Fruit vape, and it looks just like that.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 14:45):
Oh my gosh.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 14:46):
Right. It’s just so heavily marketed to kids. They have vapes that look like highlighters, so you can easily hide it.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 14:59):
It’s marketed directly to kids.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 15:00):
Directly.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 15:01):
It’s attractive. It seems safe. Clearly not safe. As a parent, how do you get through to your kids? How do you talk to them about vaping without actually making it seem [like] that forbidden fruit that they want to chase and find?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 15:19):
Exactly, exactly. Because the peer pressure. Peer pressure is one thing. But then, just the curiosity is also huge.
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I’m a parent myself. I have three boys. I actually had one of my boys … vaping at one point, when he was in high school. We obviously, this is what I do for a living, so we had talked about this forever and ever. But he was still so curious. For me, again, because I’m always researching, and reading about everything having to do with vaping, and drugs and stuff, I am always watching. I’m watching. And we’re talking, we keep talking. But he still did it.
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How did I know he did it?
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 16:11):
Yeah. How did you find out? Did he tell you, or did you catch him?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 16:14):
Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not he’s going to tell me. No. Coughing. Coughing, coughing. So much coughing.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 16:21):
OK, so that’s a sign.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 16:23):
Also, the smell. You cannot hide that smell. It’s on their clothes, it’s in their car. If they’re doing it in their room, it’s in their room. It is, “What is that?” It’s almost like, “Did I burn a candle? What is that?” If you’re thinking about it, you’ll be like, “Yeah, I have smelled that.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 16:44):
That’s true even of the fruity ones?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 16:46):
Yeah, you’re going to smell it.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 16:48):
OK.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 16:48):
If they are vaping in their car, their car is going to smell like it.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 16:50):
Interesting.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 16:51):
Their clothes. In the high schools, they have a huge problem obviously, with vaping in the bathrooms.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 16:59):
Sure.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 16:59):
A lot of the schools have installed vape monitors.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 17:04):
Oh!
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 17:04):
They’ll go off like it’s a siren and all that. But before that, there were huge issues. The kids would be like, “I can’t even go in there. I’m going to come out smelling like mangoes.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 17:14):
Oh, because of the vaping in there?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 17:17):
Yes.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 17:17):
Oh my gosh.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 17:19):
Yeah. For parents, with anything with your teenager, it’s important to keep those lines of communication open. You yourself, which is so good that we’re doing this, you yourself have to be educated.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 17:30):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 17:30):
I know when we first started doing programs on this in the schools, the teachers were like, “Oh, I didn’t know. Oh.” They didn’t know. The kids always know.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 17:40):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 17:40):
But the parents and the adults in their life don’t always know.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 17:43):
We’re late to the party.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 17:45):
We’re so late, I know. Educate yourself. Watch your kid, listen to your kid. Let them know that there’ll be consequences.
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I have, as a parent, always had drug tests in my house for nicotine and marijuana. Because they’re going to hide it if they can. I want to be able to trust my kids, but there is a reality to that. Especially if they’re driving.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 18:17):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 18:17):
I need to make sure, if I have a suspicion, maybe I want to do this test before you go drive.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 18:26):
Let’s talk a little bit more about drug testing with your kids. That is hard to do. They’re not going to want to do it. Probably say a lot of things that you don’t want to hear. And yet, it’s an important test for you to conduct, especially if something is going on with your child.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 18:50):
Right. I think, again, making your expectations known. ... I don’t want to think of drug testing as a consequence, but for lack of a better word, we’ll call it that. If there are suspicions, or you’re finding evidence, these disposable vapes, they’re everywhere. They may have it in their backpack.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 19:16):
OK.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 19:16):
If you shake out some of these kids’ backpacks, you’re going to find vapes for sure. At least, they come in little cartons, you’re going to find something.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 19:27):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 19:29):
Again, I think you have to be really straightforward with your child, and let them know how serious it is. How serious a nicotine addiction is, how serious a marijuana addiction is. What those do to your body, what those two drugs do to your body. Just let them know that, because of the seriousness of those two drugs, we may have to have you do a drug test. It’s a simple urine test. It’s not a blood test or anything.
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Again, not every parent agrees. But me personally, it was more important to me to know the truth, so that I can help you with this. What can we do? If we need some tobacco cessation, what do we need? Than you being mad at me.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 20:25):
Right. And them keep having to hide it.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 20:28):
Yeah.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 20:30):
You mentioned that parents need to really educate themselves on vaping, on the products. What are some ways that they can find out this information?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 20:40):
Obviously, podcasts like this. Programs that we, Weller, have done in the community are great. Your school is a great resource. Again, I’ve mentioned, it’s a big problem in the schools so they do want to do community events for it.
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I have mentioned before that I think LVHN should do a community symposium on vaping. Just open it to the whole community so that it’s a great way to get all of that accurate information. That’s always the key.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 21:14):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 21:15):
We can all go to the internet and do a search, but you never know, “Is this being sponsored by a tobacco company or a vape company?”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 21:24):
That’s a great point.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 21:25):
It’s hard, hard sometimes. They’re very, very good at hiding it. Sources matter.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 21:34):
Sure.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 21:35):
But, just educating yourself. Ask questions. Just keep talking to your kids, and finding out. ... If you keep those lines of communication open, you’re going to find some things out. If friends are vaping, who’s doing this, who’s doing that. Yeah. It’s tough because it is easy to hide.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 21:58):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 21:58):
They do it in the classroom.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 22:01):
Wow!
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 22:02):
This was always interesting when I first found this out. The aerosol is much heavier than smoke. If you’re here and you’re smoking, and I’m here and I’m vaping, and we blow out this cloud at the same time, the smoke is going to go everywhere. The vape is going to fall because it’s heavy.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 22:20):
Wow, OK.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 22:21):
In that vape cloud, there is, like we said, lots of chemicals. But there’s also particles, very small particles of heavy metals.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 22:35):
Oh, no. So another complication of it.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 22:35):
Yes, yes. That actually, because they’re so small, they get embedded in the lung tissue and they cause a lot of irritation. That’s due to the fact that that atomizer, these are metal, so the heating of it and turning it into aerosol, it results in these heavy metals.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 22:53):
Wow.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 22:54):
Anyway, the vape cloud will fall. Now the schools are getting a little bit more savvy about it. But the kids would just have their hoodies on, and you have it in your sleeve so you can just vape it.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 23:07):
Wow.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 23:08):
Then you blow it straight down your hoodie.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 23:11):
Oh my gosh. Wow.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 23:12):
You can smell it though. That’s the thing. I can smell it. I can be in a car and somebody in front of me, I’m like, “I can smell that a mile away.” The teachers ... but at some point, the whole school smells like it.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 23:25):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 23:27):
That’s why the schools installed those monitors.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 23:31):
Which I think have been pretty helpful.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 23:34):
Clearly this is really prevalent in our area. What do you do if you find out that your child has been vaping? Either you discover it, or they’re sent home from school, suspended, in trouble at school because of vaping. What do you recommend?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 23:51):
The schools all have pretty strict policies on vaping. Every school’s different. But at some point, after maybe first, second offense, I don’t know, like I said they’re all different, there will be a suspension attached to that. I know I’ve been working with schools where there are kids who are suspended quite a bit.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 24:16):
Right, because of this.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 24:18):
They’re actually looking at some type of program, like cessation program, to use in lieu of suspension. Those same programs, parents can use those.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 24:31):
Great.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 24:32):
The American Lung Association has some really, really good ones that parents can use. There are others. But I know I’m more familiar with the American Lung Association ones. Definitely, there’s lots of different cessation resources. But nicotine addiction is tough.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 24:52):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 24:52):
It is very hard for the kids to break that addiction. Especially because there’s a behavioral component to that. You also need that behavioral modification. Definitely talk to their pediatrician. See what they can recommend, in terms of resources for behavior modification. There are lots of resources, like I said, online with the American Lung Association, and some of the others.
(Opens in new tab 25:30):
There can be consequences that the parents are going to put forward as well, in terms of punishments and stuff. Obviously, that’s up to the parent. But yeah, it’s a challenge.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 25:43):
Everything I’m hearing you say says how important it is to take this seriously as a parent. You might be worried about drugs, you might be worried about alcohol and cigarettes. But this is just as important to keep on your radar, even though it seems to be safe. It’s clearly not.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 26:04):
Definitely. In addition to that is the vaping of THC. Marijuana is not legal here in Pennsylvania. In the states where it is legal, you have to be 21. None of these kids should be using marijuana in any way. But the rate of use is up. It’s even up in younger kids because vaping it, it’s just so much easier than back in the day, you smoked it. That was really the only way you could do it. Now, it just is so much easier. It seems less dangerous, in some way.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 26:51):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 26:52):
It just doesn’t seem like as big a deal, because you can just take this little purple, or pink, or Juicy Fruit, or whatever, and take a hit off that. That doesn’t seem as big a deal as, “Oh, I have a joint here. I actually have to smoke it.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 27:09):
It doesn’t seem sinister.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 27:11):
Exactly. And it’s not the same thing as smoking. If you don’t smoke and you inhaled smoke, you’re going to cough and cough and cough. That does not happen with the vape.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 27:20):
Oh, so it’s easier for them to use it as well. Even though it damages their lungs.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 27:28):
Yeah, it’s different.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 27:28):
When they’re vaping, it’s not as harsh.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 27:32):
Right. It’s different. It’s definitely different. The thing with the vaping THC is it is way more concentrated.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 27:41):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 27:42):
There is something that the kids, they call it dabbing. That is when they use, it’s actually a wax. It’s a highly concentrated THC wax that they put in the vape. That is incredibly dangerous.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 27:55):
That gets melted in the same way.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 27:57):
Pretty much, yeah.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 27:57):
Wow.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 27:58):
Yeah. The level of THC that you’re getting just off one puff of this is incredibly high. For anybody whose never done that before, it can be dangerous.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 28:14):
It sounds like, as parents, we’ve got to be hyper-aware, not afraid to have the conversation. How young do you recommend having that conversation? When do you start talking about vaping?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 28:30):
That’s interesting because when we started doing this program, I believe it was the 2018-2019 school year is when we started. We started in high school. It made sense to us. Then shortly after we’re like, “Oh, the schools are like can we do it in middle school?” We’re like, “Sure.” This year, we did it for third grade.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 28:50):
Wow. Clearly, this is part of your whole family conversation on an ongoing basis.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 28:57):
Yeah.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 28:57):
With every other safety issue that you’re discussing.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 29:02):
Absolutely.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 29:04):
Wow.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 29:05):
When everybody likes to compare it to cigarettes, and there are so many differences, and not in a good way. Because the vape, because of how it’s packaged, because you don’t have to light it, because you’re not inhaling smoke, it’s just easier.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 29:19):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 29:20):
It just doesn’t seem as big a deal. They’re going to do it younger, and that’s what the schools are seeing. We get all of our information from the schools. We don’t just, “Oh, maybe we’ll do this.” No, we go to the schools. “What is going on? What do you need from Weller to supplement your curriculums?” They tell us. They’re like, “We need vaping in the elementary school now.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 29:45):
Wow. It sounds like this is in every school.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 29:49):
Everywhere.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 29:49):
This is not anything related to socioeconomic status. This [is] every school, every grade, big problem.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 30:01):
Yeah. It really, really is.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 30:02):
Why are kids turning to vaping?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 30:04):
I think kids are the same as they ever were. I think that, again, it’s something that is maybe grown-up to them. It’s something that they see in social media. They see, again back to the marketing. I can’t stress that enough because it is such a huge, huge part of it. They use different social media influencers that they respect or they follow. We model for our kids, parents. Many parents vape. They’re going to see it there. They want to try it. They’re curious. Their friends are doing it and they don’t want to be left out.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 30:51):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 30:53):
Again, kids are the same as they’ve always been. They just want to do the grown-up things. The big issue thing is, when you’re doing something like vaping which contains nicotine, and you get addicted to nicotine. ... Statistically, when they talk to high school students, the majority of them say they do want to quit vaping. But now that they’re addicted to nicotine, it’s not so easy.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 31:20):
It’s hard.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 31:20):
Yeah.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 31:23):
Let’s talk a little bit more about the effects of vaping on your brain, on your heart, on your lungs. It’s not just the vapor itself, it’s the chemicals that are in it.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 31:36):
Right. Like I mentioned before, we’re not going to know. We’re not going to know the true long-term effects until we have a long term.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 31:43):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 31:44):
When the teens now are 40, I guess we’ll really know for a fact all of the outcomes. But for now, we know enough about the effects of that vapor and the different chemicals on the lung tissue, and how it can exacerbate already existing conditions like asthma.
(Opens in new tab 32:07):
I know during the COVID pandemic ... vaping numbers went down amongst teens, but that’s because they weren’t together in school. That was kind of interesting.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 32:17):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 32:17):
But now, they just went right back up to where they had been. But that made the COVID virus so much worse for people who were vaping. And smoking. But still, your lungs are so compromised because of those chemicals and that hot aerosol that you’re breathing in.
(Opens in new tab 32:41):
Now nicotine, we know the effects of nicotine. Of nicotine addiction on the brain, and how that looks. Now that’s something I actually didn’t mention that I should have, when parents are trying to keep an eye on their kid, is to look for those signs of addiction.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 32:59):
What would those be?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 33:01):
Signs of addiction in anybody, but definitely in teens, irritability. You’re going to have your highs and your lows. They can get jittery, headaches, nausea. These are all when I can’t have my nicotine.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 33:19):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 33:20):
If you’re in school all day, you can’t have your nicotine. You have a lot of this. A lot of headaches, a lot of, like I said, the irritability, the moodiness. Then some kids will say, “Oh, but my mom,” or whoever, when they’re talking, “they say that it relaxes them.”
(Opens in new tab 33:40):
I try to explain that well, yes and no. But the fact that they’re tense to begin with is because they are needing their nicotine.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 33:51):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 33:51):
Once they get the nicotine in their bloodstream, they feel relaxed. The kids are always like, “Oh, OK.” It makes sense to them.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 33:59):
It does.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 34:00):
But before we explain that to them, they were under the impression that, “This makes my mom relaxed. This is relaxing.”
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 34:09):
They saw it as a way to get relaxed themselves.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 34:12):
Right. But they didn’t realize that that’s not really how it’s working.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 34:16):
Yeah.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 34:18):
Yeah.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 34:19):
Well, Kristen, thank you so much. You are a wealth of information on vaping. What would be some of your last pieces of advice that you’d like to leave with our audience?
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 34:31):
I think that this podcast is just an awesome opportunity to get that information out there about vaping to parents. And folks in schools as well, anybody who’s working with children. My message to parents is just really be open with your kids, and keep that conversation going. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. That is really the key to all things when we’re talking about keeping our kids safe. But vaping is new to us; they know more than we do.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 35:05):
Right.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 35:06):
We have to make sure that we’re on the same page. And that we’re, again, just keeping those conversations going. Don’t be afraid to ask those hard questions and do what you need to do to keep them safe. If that might be drug testing, or searching backpacks, then that might be what you have to do.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 35:22):
Well, thank you so much.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 35:24):
You’re welcome.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 35:24):
We really appreciate you being here.
Kristen Hoben (Opens in new tab 35:26):
Thank you.
Anne Baum (Opens in new tab 35:28):
For more kid-focused health tips, advice and must-know news about Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lvhnchildren. To learn more information about school-based programs offered by Weller Health Education, go to LVHN.org/weller. Remember, every parent needs a partner through parenthood, so make sure to subscribe or follow Because They’re Kids wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.
