#7 - Want to Quit Vaping? Learn How from The Truth Initiative

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Megan Jacobs from The Truth Initiative: Inspiring Tobacco Free Lives. Megan is the managing director of product for the Innovations Center at Truth Initiative.  She brings a user-centered approach to product design that is key to the quit-smoking and vaping programs that are used by hundreds of thousands of people who want to break free from addiction.

In today’s show, Megan is going to talk about:

• Cessation programs for youth who want to quit smoking or vaping
• Support for the parents of youth who smoke or vape
• The difference between smoking and vaping, and the ways in which quit strategies differ
• The use of text messaging to reach youth who want to quit
• The power of engaging young people in creating quit messages
• Factors that make their cessation programs effective

RESOURCES

This is Quitting – first ever text-based quit program.

• Teens and young adults should text DITCHJUUL to 88709.
• Parents can text QUIT to (202) 899-7550 to sign up to receive text messages designed specifically for parents of vapers or visit BecomeAnEx at: https://www.becomeanex.org/helping-a-child-quit-vaping/
• Details: https://truthinitiative.org/thisisquitting
• Results: https://truthinitiative.org/press/press-release/new-study-reveals-breakthrough-texting-program-aids-young-vapers-quitting
• Launched in January, to date more than 57,000 young people have enrolled in the program.

Overview of the different challenges between quitting vaping and quitting smoking

• Cigarette-specific smoking programs don’t work because e-cigarette users don’t think of themselves as smokers.  They also have some different barriers to quitting:
  • Unlike with cigarettes – most are using these products everywhere. For example, they are discrete and can be used in schools or public places with little notice.
  • Users don’t experience the negative effects from cigarettes (like bad smells) that may prompt them to quit.
  • Nicotine replacement products (like patches or gum) that make quitting more comfortable and increase your odds of success are over the counter for adults, but teens require a prescription and possibly also parental involvement. This adds another hurdle for teens trying to quit.

Misconceptions of nicotine present in e-cigs among youth

• JUUL and other e-cigarette manufacturers keeping consumers in the dark has led to widespread misconceptions about e-cigarette products, especially among young people.
• A lot of young people have been fooled by JUUL. Nearly two-thirds — 63 percent — of JUUL users between 15 and 24 years old did not know that the product always contains nicotine, a Truth Initiative study published in Tobacco Control found.
  • Press Release: JUUL e-cigarettes gain popularity among youth, but awareness of nicotine presence remains low

Tested on Humans

• truth educational campaign vaping prevention campaign
• https://truthinitiative.org/press/press-release/truth-confronts-juul-and-other-e-cigarette-manufacturers-new-campaign-tested