In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education released Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline. This resource for schools helps to create positive, safe, and supportive environments that can prevent and change inappropriate behaviors. This guidance also recommends using suspension only as a last resort for serious violations. In fact, school suspension can have long-term impacts. Students who are suspended miss time in the classroom and are at risk for not graduating on time, repeat a grade, drop out, or become involved with the criminal justice system.6 Suspensions also affect a greater proportion of students of color, students receiving special education services, students from low-income families, LGBTQ+ students, and male students. Most young people who vape want to quit. Suspending students who violate a school’s tobacco-free policy is unlikely to help them quit tobacco use, and could alter their academic and future goals. Because young people have been unfairly targeted with marketing tactics, the science of addiction, and long-term consequences of suspension, schools should provide a supportive environment and encouragement to quit using tobacco products, not suspension.
Most people start using tobacco in their pre-teen and teen years, a time during which a youth’s brain is still growing, making it easier to get addicted to the nicotine in tobacco. That’s why it’s important to educate youth about the dangers of tobacco and the fact that they are targeted by the tobacco companies and should say “no” to starting.
Increasing the price of tobacco products and presenting messages that counter the tobacco industry’s marketing are among the ways in which we can help youth never start using tobacco.
Policies that make “tobacco-free” the norm and that protect youth from getting and using these deadly products are also important. 24/7 tobacco-free school policy, prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, and having tobacco-free outdoor parks and beaches are all examples of policies that may help prevent kids from using tobacco.
School policies regulating the use and possession of commercial tobacco products, including electronic delivery devices (e.g., e-cigarettes, vaping devices, JUUL, Suorin), often contain punitive measures for student violations. This publication provides sample language and ideas for evidence-based solutions and information as to why these alternative measures may be more effective than suspension and expulsion at addressing student tobacco use and nicotine addiction as part of a school’s Commercial Tobacco-Free Policy.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is the name given to a group of battery-operated tobacco products that allow users to inhale aerosolized liquid (e-juice) containing nicotine and other substances.
The terms “e-cigarettes” and “e-cigs” are often used for electronic cigarettes, as well as for e-pens, e-pipes, e-hookah, and e-cigars. These products are also sometimes called “JUULs” (after a branded e-cigarette of the same name), “vapes,” and “vape pens.”
Unlike traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes are made up of a battery-operated heating part — a cartridge (unit) that typically holds nicotine and other chemicals that change into a chemical-filled aerosol when heated.
This guide supports health care providers, systems, and communities seeking to prevent vaping. It describes relevant research findings, examines emerging and best practices, identifies knowledge gaps and implementation challenges, and offers useful resources.