AMPLIFY! August Newsletter

It's time to get back into the classroom!

As we step into August, AMPLIFY! wants to call attention to the importance of protecting our students against tobacco products. Today, E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth, with 7.7% of students regularly using these products. That translates to 550,000 middle school and 1.56 million high school students (CDC). Now more than ever, students are being targeted through enticing flavors that deliver high amounts of nicotine, creating a quick dependency on these products that they often use to deal with the stressors that come with the school year. Anxiety, stress, and feelings of depression are all cited as reasons youth begin use of these products, in addition to the not-so-subtle marketing, advertising, and flavors that target them. As this problem grows, it reinforces a cycle of creating lifelong smokers, hooking children before they are even finished developing their brains, which can harm attention span, learning centers, mood, and impulse control. Let's work together to equip our students with the skills and knowledge to say no before they start and quit now if they have.

AMPLIFY! has compiled a short list of youth-focused vaping resources and graphics below: 

Background Information

• Youth Vaping, Smoking, and Nicotine Use: https://truthinitiative.org/our-top-issues/vaping-issue 

• E-Cigarette Use Among Youth: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/e-cigarettes/youth.html 

• Youth Vaping: A review and update on global epidemiology, physical and behavioral health risks, and clinical considerations: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8364775/ 

Quit Program and Courses:

• Youth Vaping Prevention and Resources to Quit: https://truthinitiative.org/vaping-curriculum 

• Ex Program, Quit Support for Individuals and Organizations: https://truthinitiative.org/exprogram 

• ASPIRE ( A Smoking Prevention Interactive Experience): https://www.mdanderson.org/about-md-anderson/community-services/aspire.html

For Social Media Graphics:

• https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/media/2024/back-to-school 

• The 101 on E-Cigarettes Infographic: https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking-tobacco/the-101-on-e-cigarettes-infographic