“My generation was so so close to being one of the first Tobacco-free generations ever… we almost escaped…. It makes me really angry.”
Youth tobacco use had fallen significantly across the US, partly due to a ban on candy cigarettes and flavored cigarettes as well as other measures. Then Big Tobacco found e-cigarettes, and is addicting a new generation of youth with flavored addictive products. Watching this rise of commercial tobacco use via e-cigarettes and vaping has been really scary for those of us who deal every day with the scourge of tobacco and understand the history of Big Tobacco addicting teens via flavors. I have three young children, and definitely worry about this industry who uses the addictiveness of nicotine on young brains as its business model. Watching history repeat itself can make you want to give up sometimes, but my podcast guests Gabriella Shirtcliff and Karen Ard give me hope, and I hope they do that for you, too.
Gabriella is a junior at Summit High School. She is the Community Health Advocate for the Deschutes County Health Services Prevention Team and co-facilitates Teen Community Health Advocates, the youth committee of the Shared Future Coalition. Gabriella is passionate about raising awareness about drug use and abuse, especially among her peers, and helping end it. In 2018, Gabriella was nominated for Bend’s Young Woman of the Year for her work with Pacific Crest Middle School and World Muse. She is also very concerned about the rise of Big Tobacco again in her peers with flavored e-cigarettes and vape products, and has been working hard to help combat it, using social media and education, and advocating passionately for Tobacco Retail Licensing, which can help set parameters around how tobacco is marketed and sold. She also points out that tobacco use had gotten down to 7% in their county, which is historically very low, but that same year, vaping rates among teens rose to 29%.
Karen Ard earned her Masters of Public Health from California State University, Fresno with an emphasis on Community Health. She has been working in the public health field for over 9 years, where she has focused primarily on providing policy, systems, and environmental change strategies to promote healthy and active living for diverse populations. She has been in her current role as the Tobacco Prevention and Education Program Coordinator for Deschutes County for 2.5 years. She works with Gabriella to help stop the skyrocketing use of vaping and e-cigarettes in the youth in her county, which has been of great concern to them. She wishes so much of her job was not now consumed by a resurgence in youth nicotine addiction.
We talked about the importance of making sure that tobacco tax dollars are well spent in helping people quit commercial tobacco and preventing future addictions. We speak about different strategies to do this, from education and social media, to policy options such as ensuring a robust tobacco retail licensing program, which the State of Oregon lacks.
Gabriella shared that she is angry about seeing her generation almost escape Big Tobacco, but having Tobacco reach out and addict them via the tried and true method of flavor additives. We should be angry about this. I know I am. I was also touched at the protectiveness of her peers towards their younger siblings- when some teens will vape but then worry when they see their younger family members take it up. It reminds me of the anguish my patients share with me about wanting to quit their own addiction when they see their children or grandchildren take up tobacco themselves.
It is also important to remember the racist history of Big Tobacco, particularly around mentholated cigarettes and tobacco products. I often tell my patients that smoking a menthol cigarette is like smoking a cigarette with a cough drop. It is designed to suppress your cough so that you can keep smoking or vaping and get addicted. Menthols in particular are aggressively marketed to Black communities. Communities of color, and Black children are much more likely to see regular tobacco advertising than other communities and have tobacco retailers closer to their schools, which increases experimental youth tobacco use. The history of the predatory relationship of big tobacco in Black communities is a sobering one. We are currently releasing this post during Black History Month. If you want to learn more about the history of tobacco in Black communities and menthols in particular, you can learn more here or listen to the podcast episode “Tobacco and Healthy Black Lives” with Cyreena Boston Ashby. You can learn more here about the health effects in general of vaping and e-cigarettes and on this podcast episode with Dr. Jeffrey Gotts.
Karen shared her desire to have her role be less needed in public health. I really identified with that. I hope that one day I can retire because ICU and lung doctors are no longer needed because the air we breathe is cleaner. It is fascinating to think about the number of people who are having to work to deal with the aftermath of Big Tobacco. Think about how much money it costs to have somebody stay in the ICU, to have to come see me in a specialty clinic, pay for thousands of dollars of inhalers, or to have to actually hire people in counties and states across the country just to help people stay away from this legal product. Tobacco is a drain on our economies at both the national and state level. I also see how it drains the individuals and families I care for, robbing them of both money and loved ones. Is important to do all we can to fight for a world free of corporate tobacco. I hope you will consider taking an action today or donating to an organization working to stop Big Tobacco.
TLDR= Don't Light Things on Fire and Breathe them into your Lungs
Action Items:
1- Talk to your kids or youth in your life about vaping and e-cigarettes– You can find resources from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids here. If you or your kids use social media, share about your concerns.
2- Find out whether your state or town has Tobacco Retail Licensing. If it doesn’t, push for it at the local and state level. Use ALA’s State of Tobacco Control Report.
3- Find out whether your state, county or town has a flavor ban, and make sure it includes menthol. If it doesn’t, write your elected representatives at all levels to share why it is important. Push for the national flavor ban to include all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vaping.
4- Donate to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
5- Join the Air Health Our Health Fight for Air Climb! Climb on your own terms, your own way, and raise money for the ALA! Or just donate to support our efforts if you don’t want to climb! Due date is 2/14/2021, so you can also go to the regular AHOH ALA fundraiser if you’re reading after that date. Maybe you can join next year’s team!
