Clearing the air: how Lanai is combating the youth vaping epidemic

The Kalihi YMCA’s substance abuse treatment program, "You, Me Together Vape-Free," incorporates local themes to educate about the dangers of vaping. Photo courtesy of Kalihi YMCA.

With concerns rising about youth vaping, local organizations and authorities are working with Lanai High and Elementary School (LHES) to address the problem on all fronts.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), e-cigarettes have been the most used tobacco product among middle and high school students in the U.S. since 2014. In Hawaii, more than 30% of high school students and nearly 13% of middle school students have tried vaping or e-cigarettes, according to the latest data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.

These statistics are reflected on Lanai, where LHES Principal Douglas Boyer says the school has recovered vapes not only from the high school but also from the middle and elementary school.

Former LHES School Resource Officer Sgt. Carl Eguia said in an email, “One of the trends I have noticed is that children are starting to smoke vapes at an earlier age, with some parents being more accepting of kids smoking vapes and even sometimes buying them for the kids. I have also noticed that kids start with nicotine vapes, then move on to the marijuana vapes, known as dab pens. 

A display of various vaping products is used to educate parents and teachers on what to look out for. Photo courtesy of Lanai Community Health Center.

According to Cori Takesue, a licensed clinical psychologist and certified tobacco treatment specialist at the Lanai Community Health Center (LCHC), youth vaping has gotten worse in recent years.

“It’s the marketing from the tobacco industry towards youth in terms of flavors and a lot of the ads make it look like fun,” says Takesue. “On the outer islands it becomes more of a challenge because you don’t have as many activities or things to keep kids interested and busy, so they start engaging in other high-risk behaviors.”

She also says that new devices have made it easier and more enjoyable for youth to experiment with vaping. The discreet nature of vapes, which can resemble everyday items like USB drives, also makes it easier for students to hide their habit from parents and school authorities.

“Now you’ve got these new devices with the salt-based nicotine and there isn’t that throat hit so it’s much easier to use, smells great, the flavors and then the key ingredient, nicotine, which becomes highly addictive,” says Takesue.

Vaping and Nicotine Addiction

Health experts say nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine with those who start smoking before age 21 having the hardest time breaking the habit.

“One of the first signs I noticed when students are vaping is that students were missing a lot of class time, so they could go somewhere to smoke their vapes,” says Eguia. “This is due to the addictive properties of nicotine in vapes.”

Nicotine use during adolescence and young adulthood can also damage the brain and lead to irritability, depression and anxiety. This is something Jaunette DeMello, clinical director of the Kalihi YMCA, encounters directly in her line of work.

“There are kids who continuously take hits off of this thing where it’s like it’s addicting and when they don’t have it, you can see that behavior,” says DeMello. “It’s not even just irritable, it’s downright mean and angry. Meltdowns.” 

Collaborative Efforts to Address Vaping

The Kalihi YMCA’s Adolescent School Based Substance Abuse Treatment Program has been providing substance abuse treatment to youth on Lanai since 2017. The program is funded by the Hawaii State Department of Health’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division (ADAD), and offers outpatient and intensive outpatient treatment and individual and group counseling.

“We believe that all kids are at risk. If they’re not using, they know someone who’s using whether it be vaping, alcohol or drugs,” says DeMello. “We provide them with the education, coping skills, learning how to say no to peer pressure, whatever it is that they may need to set them up in order to work on being a better version of themselves.”

LCHC reinforces these efforts by making visits to LHES where community health workers teach students about the dangers of tobacco and nicotine.

The Kalihi YMCA’s substance abuse treatment program and LCHC both follow a curriculum called "You, Me Together Vape-Free," which was developed by Stanford Medicine. The curriculum was recently modified to better align with the needs of Hawaii’s youth and includes activities, online quiz games and other materials aimed at addressing the key factors associated with youth vaping.

“The first rollout had more of a mainland feel to it and the kids were kind of getting it, but it wasn’t relatable,” says Denise Ropa, a community health worker at LCHC. “But when they changed it to the Hawaii version, they could see themselves and their atmosphere.”

The health center also holds community outreach events to provide educational services and materials to parents and has partnered with the Lanai Academy of Performing Arts to create social media videos.

“Our hope is that other youth will see their friends and watch the video,” Takesue says. “We try to put familiar faces in these videos so that we can draw in more people to actually watch the videos to get information.”

Certified in the Law Enforcement Against Drugs program, school resource officers are also heavily involved in the fight against vaping. According to Eguia, they not only provide education but take a tougher stance on students by confiscating their vapes, documenting cases and issuing citations for tobacco violations.

“Documenting these cases is important because then, I can talk to the students and parents, educating them on the consequences of using vapes,” says Eguia.

According to Boyer, LHES is also exploring starting a community committee to address at-risk behaviors like vaping to see what can be done to tackle the issue.

New Law Cracks Down on Youth Vaping

Recognizing the increasing issue of vaping among young people across the state, Governor Josh Green, M.D. recently signed a new law to tackle the problem.

Senate Bill 975, now Act 62, targets the unlawful shipment of tobacco products, which now includes e-cigarettes and e-liquids—commonly used in vaping. These products have been placed under the umbrella of "tobacco products,” which means they will now be subject to the same regulations and taxes as traditional tobacco items, like cigarettes.

Takesue sees this as a significant victory for the state in the battle against youth vaping and says that addressing the issue on a larger scale through legislative measures can stop things from becoming a problem. 

For additional information about LCHC’s initiatives and programs, please call (808) 565-6919. For those interested in learning more about the Kalihi YMCA's Adolescent School Based Substance Abuse Treatment Program, they can reach out to Jaunette DeMello at jdemello@ymcahonolulu.org.