While FDA dithers, California continues to take e-cigs head on: Nicotine = Brain Poison

Today the California Department of Public Health Tobacco Control Program launched its latest response to the e-cigarette epidemic with the strongest message so far, Nicotine = Brain Poison.  The campaign includes very strong media as well as print.  My favorite detail is the use of two Juul’s to make up the equal sign in the print ads.

Here is the summary of the facts behind the campaign, which has been added to the Department’s outstanding wwwFlavorsHookKids.org website.

NICOTINE = BRAIN POISON

Flavors mask the harsh taste of tobacco which makes it easier for kids to smoke — and most kids don’t know that flavored e-cigarettes are high in nicotine.

Flavors

The tobacco industry is hooking the next generation of addicts, and flavors are a big way in. Four out of five kids who have used tobacco started with a flavored product.

Those numbers suggest that most underaged users might never have tried vaping if tobacco tasted like tobacco. From Juul’s popular mango to thousands of options available for Suorin and other open systems, flavors hook kids on a drug known to be as addictive as heroin.

Nicotine

The rise in teen vaping is finally news. But we need to know more about kids’ consumption of nicotine, such as how high the doses, and how great the risks.

Modern devices can have up to 6x the nicotine concentration of first generation e-cigs, putting kids at risk of not only a nicotine addiction, but substance addiction of all kinds.

Poison

Nicotine is one of the most toxic of all poisons. It can rewire the brain, particularly vulnerable in the developing years, from adolescence to mid-twenties. In what ways?

Nicotine changes the teen brain and affects attention, learning, and memory. It can worsen stressors already challenging in adolescence: impulsivity, learning difficulties, irritability, anxiety and mood swings. But unlike other adolescent phases, changes to the brain from nicotine can be permanent.