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Prevention Action Alliance
Know! The New Line of Nicotine Products Enticing Youth
You’re likely familiar with the dangers of vaping, especially among
youth. Juul and other electronic cigarettes came onto the market
purportedly to help adult cigarette smokers kick the habit. Instead,
they’ve introduced nicotine to a new generation of non-smoking
teens—thus creating our country’s current youth vaping epidemic. With
vaping under fire, it’s no surprise that multinational corporations are
finding new ways to profit from others’ addictions.
Have you heard of nicotine pouches? If you haven’t, now’s the time to
learn about them and share the risks with your students, because these
tiny pouches have all the makings to become the next big problem.
Nicotine Pouches
Nicotine pouches are pre-portioned, little, white sacks filled with a
crystal-like substance that contain nicotine but not tobacco. The user
puts the pouch between the lip and gums, just like chewing tobacco,
which is also known as dip or snus. The user’s saliva then mixes to
create a nicotine “juice” that is meant to be swallowed.
This product is promoted as discreet, fresh, and able to be
conveniently enjoyed at any time—because there is no smoke, no smell,
no need to spit, and no refrigeration required. One website even
reassures the potential user that there is no need to worry, because
the only person who will know you are enjoying your nicotine pouch is
you.
Pouches are sold in different strengths of nicotine and come in a
variety of flavors, including black cherry, cinnamon, citrus, coffee,
dragon fruit, peppermint, spearmint and wintergreen. Plus, they say
they won’t stain your teeth and are billed as gluten-free.
The Effects of Nicotine on Youth
These pouches and the flavors they come in are certainly enticing to
young people. Unlike vaping, no smoke passes through the airways and
into the lungs when using these pouches. However, nicotine is nicotine,
no matter how you package it, and the dangers of this substance go
beyond the airways.
Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that raises blood pressure, causes
adrenaline to spike, increases heart rate, and elevates one’s
likelihood for a heart attack. Youth are even more susceptible to
nicotine’s negative effects and become dependent on this drug more
rapidly than adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC):
Nicotine can harm the developing adolescent brain. The brain keeps developing until about age 25.
Using nicotine in adolescence can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control.
Each time our brains create a new memory or learn a new skill, stronger
connections—or synapses—are built between brain cells. Young people’s
brains build synapses faster than adult brains. Nicotine changes the
way these synapses are formed.
Using nicotine in adolescence may also increase risk for future addiction to other drugs.
Just as one harmful product is brought to light, another harmful
product seems to emerge from the darkness to take its place. While we
may not be aware of every single nicotine product out there to
specifically warn young people about, what we can do is to talk with
them about the dangers of this substance in any form, tell them to
steer clear of it, and of course step in and seek help if we suspect or
know a student is using nicotine products.
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