Vaping prevention and quit resources: top tips for parents and educators

Parents and educators have an important role to play in reaching students with the information they need to make informed choices. By making information about the health effects of tobacco use accessible and providing tools to quit if they are already vaping, parents and educators can make a huge difference during this critical time for youth tobacco and nicotine use.

According to the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school students in 2024, with 5.9% (1.63 million) reporting current use. Among students who currently used e-cigarettes, 38.4% reported frequent use (at least 20 out of 30 days) and 26.3 reported daily use. 

As new tobacco products continue to appear on the market, it is also increasingly important that parents and educators familiarize themselves with new products that are gaining popularity, such as pouches, lozenges and synthetic nicotine products.

By staying informed, parents and educators can act as a valuable resource for the young people in their lives. Here are some resources for parents, educators, and others working with young people.

Nicotine use in schools:

• Going back to school may lead to more vaping – here’s what educators and communities can do about it
• Discipline is not the answer: Better approaches to on-campus student tobacco use
• What educators can do if they catch students vaping in schools
• Educators share how a free vaping prevention curriculum has helped their students

Nicotine and the young brain:

• Many young people turn to nicotine to deal with stress, anxiety and depression, but don’t know it may be making them feel worse
• Fact Sheet: Nicotine and the young brain
• Colliding Crises: Youth mental health and nicotine youth

Emerging tobacco products:

• Vaping Lingo Dictionary: A guide to popular terms and devices
• What is Zyn and what are oral nicotine pouches?
• What you need to know about new synthetic nicotine products
• Elf Bar, Hyde, and Breeze – what you need to know about the rise in disposable e-cigarettes

Free resources exist to help prevent youth e-cigarette use and help those already vaping quit. Vaping: Know the Truth, a curriculum from Truth Initiative and Kaiser Permanente in collaboration with the American Heart Association, gives young people facts about e-cigarette use. Developed as part of the truth^® campaign, the curriculum is a 40- to 45-minute self-administered digital course for middle and high school grade levels.

The curriculum also introduces students who are already vaping to This is Quitting, now part of EX Program, a first-of-its-kind text message program that is helping more than 800,000 young people quit vaping.

This article was originally published on January 25, 2024.