Answer Addiction

Tag: vaping

  • Capitalizing on Smoking Cessation Could Curb Coronavirus Deaths

    The data we have so far show that smokers are over-represented in COVID19 cases requiring ICU treatment and in fatalities from the disease. 

    Politicians have been hyper-focused on the drug hydroxychloroquine lately, hoping it will be a silver bullet for curbing deaths from coronavirus. Physicians, on the other hand, are less convinced it will be helpful. But we’ve already got a medical intervention that could dramatically alter the course of the pandemic: smoking cessation. Fighting the smoking pandemic could curb coronavirus deaths now and save lives in the years to come. 

    Many people smoke and vape to stay calm. So with rising rates of coronavirus anxiety, it’s no surprise that cigarette and vaping sales are booming. But emerging evidence shows smokers are at a higher risk of serious coronavirus infection. If there were ever a time to quit, it’s now. 

    The data we have so far show that smokers are over-represented in COVID19 cases requiring ICU treatment and in fatalities from the disease. One study from China estimated that smoking is associated with a 14-fold increased odds of COVID-19 infection progressing to serious illness. This might be because smoking increases the density of the lung’s ACE2 receptors, which the coronavirus exploits to infiltrate the body. On top of this, smoking weakens the immune system’s ability to fight the virus, as well as heart and lung tissue. All of this damage increases one’s risk of severe coronavirus infection and death. 

    While less is known about vaping’s relationship to coronavirus, research suggests that it impairs the ability of immune cells in the lung to fight off infection. This appears to be related to solvents used in vaping products and occurs independent of their nicotine content. Vaping also shares another risk factor for coronavirus with smoking—it involves putting something you touch with your hands into your mouth over and over. Unless you’re washing your hands and cleaning your vape religiously, you’re putting yourself at risk. On top of this, we know that many people—especially those who are younger—like to share their vapes, which really increases the chances of catching the virus. 

    Most smokers want to quit and find that their stress levels drop dramatically when they do. Many vapers want to stop too. Quitting alone can be nearly impossible though. Luckily, support is available. Primary care physicians are still working via telehealth, and they have a wide range of effective treatments for what doctors call “tobacco use disorder.” If you can’t reach your doctor, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has created a national hotline for support and free counselling: 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

    Psychotherapy is one approach to quitting. However, medications such as bupropion and varenicline are also effective and can be obtained with a phone call to your doctor. Nicotine replacement products like gum, lozenges, patches, and inhalers also greatly increase the odds of success and are available over the counter. Few people are aware that you can purchase these with your health savings and flexible spending accounts. 

    34 million people in the US smoke, and there have already been nearly 700,000 documented domestic cases of coronavirus. Given the number of deaths we could face from people smoking during this pandemic, lawmakers should be doing everything they can to make it easier for people to quit. When patients have better insurance coverage for smoking cessation treatments, they’re much more likely to use them and quit smoking. 

    Federal law requires insurers to cover cessation treatments, but they get around this by restricting access through the use of co-pays and limits on the amounts covered, while also forcing physicians to spend hours on the phone getting them to authorize coverage of medication. With people dying by the tens of thousands, Washington needs to close these loopholes now.

    Amid the widespread panic around coronavirus, it’s important that we stay clear-headed and not overlook easy fixes that could save lives. We know that smoking cessation interventions could prevent deaths, so let’s make sure we’re taking advantage of them.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Vaping Damper Taste Buds?

    Can Vaping Damper Taste Buds?

    Medical experts say there are a couple factors that can contribute to the loss of the sense of taste among vape users.

    Among the potentially-deadly consequences of vaping there is another affect that makes life a little less sweat: losing the ability to taste. 

    According to Insider, many people who use vapes regularly report that they can’t taste as well as they could before they started using.  Dr. Erich Voigt, New York University Langone Health clinical associate professor of otolaryngology, said that this is an often unrecognized consequence of vaping. 

    Voigt said losing the sensation of taste “isn’t something people come into a specialist’s office to fix because it’s a more mild symptom and they deal on their own.”

    What Contributes To The Loss Of Taste For Vapers?

    Voigt said that there are two factors that can contribute to the loss of the sense of taste among vape users. The solvents that are used in both nicotine and cannabis vape cartridges can coat the tongue with residue. That makes it harder for your taste buds to connect with food that you’re eating, so you experience much less sensation. 

    In addition, vape chemicals affect the nasal passages, which are actually very important for experiencing taste. 

    “We need sense of smell to have a complex enjoyment of taste, so if the nose is congested, it brings sense of taste down,” Voigt said. 

    Vape Tongue

    However, unlike other, more long-term consequences of vaping, so-called “vape tongue” can be reversed, Voigt said. Most people will see their sense of taste return to normal within days or weeks of quitting vapes. 

    There hasn’t been much research into how vaping affects taste. However, research has indicated that vaping can affect oral health overall. One 2016 study concluded that vaping can lead to “compromised oral health.”

    Another study found that vaping can change the molecular structure of tissues in the mouth, which could have serious health consequences, including increasing the risk for cancer. 

    “Molecular pathway and functional network analyses revealed that ‘cancer’ was the top disease associated with the deregulated genes in both e-cig users and smokers,” the study authors wrote. “We observed deregulation of critically important genes and associated molecular pathways in the oral epithelium of vapers that bears both resemblances and differences with that of smokers. Our findings have significant implications for public health and tobacco regulatory science.”

    Vaping-Related Illnesses

    People are becoming more cautious than ever about their vape use, after hundreds of people around the country have become sick with vaping-related illnesses. Voigt said that people need to realize that sensory and oral affects of vaping are dangerous as well. 

    He said, ”My gut instinct is there will be long-term health consequences with continued use of vaping.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • School Districts Sue Juul

    School Districts Sue Juul

    “We’re tired of companies that just want to make money at children’s expense,” one superintendent told The Boston Globe. 

    Educators and administrators in school districts across the country are scrambling to help prevent and respond to the use of e-cigarette use among students, often on school premises. Now, three school districts are suing the largest maker of e-cigarettes, alleging that the manufacturer should pay damages for affecting young students. 

    Olathe Public Schools in Kansas, Three Village Central School District in New York, Francis Howell School District in Missouri and La Conner School District in Washington state are suing Juul. The lawsuits were announced Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 7-8). 

    Juul Accused Of Marketing To Teens

    La Conner School District superintendent Whitney Meissner told The Boston Globe, “We’re tired of companies that just want to make money at children’s expense.”

    The lawsuits allege that Juul intentionally and illegally marketed its e-cigarette pods to teenagers. One of the lawsuits argues that Juul is “taking a page from big tobacco’s playbook” by developing “a product and marketing strategy that sought to portray its e-cigarette products as trendsetting, stylish and used by the type of people teenagers look up to,” The New York Times reported.

    Jonathan Kieffer, of the law firm Wagstaff & Cartmell in Kansas City, Missouri, is representing three of the school districts. He expects to see many other districts filing similar lawsuits. 

    The First Of Many Lawsuits

    “The lawsuits that we filed… were the first in what we fully anticipate will be many, many more to follow in the coming weeks and months as many school districts have decided to go on the offensive to combat the epidemic of youth vaping in the nation’s schools,” said Kieffer. “America’s schools are truly on the front lines of this epidemic, which has crossed all geographic and demographic lines and is increasing at an alarming rate in all regions of the country and impacting urban, suburban and rural schools.”

    Forty percent of high school seniors in New York state have used nicotine vapes, according to 2019 data. More than a quarter of high schoolers have used vapes within the past 30 days. Kieffer said that schools have had to install new technology, hire staff and spend money educating parents and students about the dangers of vaping. 

    Superintendent Blames Vaping’s Popularity On Marketing

    The massive popularity of vapes is in part due to the marketing of companies like Juul, which controls the vast majority of the U.S. e-cigarette market, said John Allison, superintendent of Olathe Public Schools.

    “As smart as our students are, they don’t understand the long-term ramifications of vaping and the amount of addictive chemicals they are dealing with,” he said. “It’s our role to protect our students today and in the future.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA, DEA Partner For Probe Into Vaping Illnesses

    FDA, DEA Partner For Probe Into Vaping Illnesses

    The agencies are focusing on vaping manufacturers in order to “[follow] the supply chain to its source.”

    The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will assist the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in its investigation into the spate of vaping-related illnesses that have sickened more than 1,000 and claimed at least 18 lives.

    In testimony before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on September 25, acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless said that the agencies will collaborate to determine “if someone is manufacturing or distributing illicit, adulterated products that caused illness or death for personal profit,” which would be considered a criminal act.

    FDA Waited Too Long To Review Vaping Products

    Sharpless acknowledged that the FDA should not have waited to review e-cigarette products, a decision which some lawmakers have said was a contributing factor in the rise of teen e-cigarette use.

    Sharpless’s testimony came on the heels of the FDA’s announcement of a criminal problem into the rash of vaping illnesses, which they announced on September 19. He mentioned that the decision to bring the DEA into the probe is due to the number of illnesses and deaths related to the use of vaping cartridges containing THC.

    As for the focus of the probe, Sharpless said that the agencies are focusing on vaping manufacturers in order to “[follow] the supply chain to its source.”

    Additionally, Sharpless said that the FDA plans to finalize a draft of new guidance for flavored vaping products. Warning letters will be sent to manufacturers that do not remove those products—save for those that are flavored like tobacco—from the market. Those that do not comply may be subjected to additional warning letters, as well as possible fines and injunctions.

    Why Did The FDA Take So Long to Act?

    But lawmakers on the subcommittee also wanted to know why the agency appeared to wait nearly three years in order to take action in regard to e-cigarettes.

    The FDA asked companies in 2016 to file applications to market products by August of 2018, but as STAT News noted, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb shifted the agency’s focus to curbing nicotine levels in traditional cigarettes, while also delaying the marketing applications to 2022 (the deadline has since been moved to May 2020).

    In response to the subcommittee’s inquiries, Sharpless said that the “FDA should’ve acted sooner,” but added that the probe, and the addition of the DEA to its efforts, should help them “catch up.”

    “We will not rest until we have answers to the questions in the investigation, and until we have dramatically reduced the access and appeal of e-cigarettes to kids,” he said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Vaping's Popularity Made Room For Dangerous Decisions

    Vaping's Popularity Made Room For Dangerous Decisions

    “The end result of what could happen is not worth any high in the world,” said one man who fell ill after vaping. 

    A few years ago, e-cigarettes were a novelty product, but today they’re incredibly common among everyone from high schoolers to middle aged adults.

    The explosive growth of the vaping market, combined with the legalization of cannabis in many states, created a regulatory vacuum and a thriving black market that has left hundreds of people sick and nine people dead from vape-related lung illness.  

    “The end result of what could happen is not worth any high in the world,” Ricky D’Ambrosio told USA Today. D’Ambrosio, 21, was hospitalized for 10 days earlier this month for a vape-related lung condition. 

    D’Ambrosio had vaped cannabis for years. He said that his illness started when he went to a dispensary that “felt legitimate, but wasn’t in the best part of town” to buy a vape cartridge. A week later he was in the hospital, violently vomiting and placed in a medically-induced coma for four days. 

    Vaping-Related Illnesses

    The vape-related illnesses and deaths that have grabbed headlines this summer were the product of a perfect storm, according to USA Today. Vapes were already super popular. They were increasingly being paired with cannabis cartridges, as marijuana became more widely legal.

    Then, the 2018 Farm Bill, signed in December, legalized hemp and made it easier and less risky to produce vape cartridges that contain THC. Teens aren’t legally allowed to buy vape products, so they often turn to the black market, which can increase their risk of exposure to contaminants. 

    “Young people are pretty nondiscriminatory in what they’re vaping,” said pulmonologist Sean Jorgensen Callahan. 

    Black Market Vape Cartridges

    David Kurzfeld, who owns a lab that tests THC products and removes contaminants, said that some people on the black market are looking to increase their profit at any cost. 

    “They’re spraying all kinds of crazy substances on their plants, it’s going downstream and we’re seeing all the effects all over the country,” he said. He regularly finds mercury, arsenic and lead in the vape products that he tests. 

    Foster Winans, a senior editor at Marijuana Times, explains that vaping heats chemicals so that “myclobutanil breaks down and emits hydrogen cyanide,” the “the same cyanide in the gas used by the Nazis to exterminate millions of Jews and other minorities.”

    While legit producers will pay to have their products tested and chemicals removed, black market growers are unlikely to make that investment, Kurzfeld said.

    “People are greedy. They can’t take the loss of an entire season’s crop. Every bit of the dirty product is sold illegally.”

    Taylor Fredette, who was hospitalized for a vape-related illness earlier this year, said that more people need to be aware of the risk of vaping, especially with black market products. 

    “This whole situation opened my eyes,” she said. “I was meant to be here and should not allow myself to put such toxins in my body.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • School To Begin Random Nicotine Testing To Combat Teen Vaping

    School To Begin Random Nicotine Testing To Combat Teen Vaping

    The school is also considering installing “Wi-Fi-enabled sensors” in bathrooms and locker rooms to detect vapor or “sounds associated with smoking.”

    A new school district policy in a rural Nebraska community illustrates the wider concern over teenage vaping.

    Starting this fall, as the new school year begins, some public school students at Fairbury Junior-Senior High School (FJSHS) will be subject to random nicotine testing, as the school district tries to dampen the popularity of e-cigarettes.

    Superintendent of Fairbury Public Schools Stephen Grizzle—who called vaping a “widespread epidemic”—discussed the new policy with the New York Times. He said they have observed rising incidents of vaping on school grounds—classrooms, restrooms, locker rooms and more.

    In one year, Fairbury Junior-Senior High School saw a steep rise in disciplinary incidents involving nicotine—mostly vaping. The number rose from seven incidents in the 2017-2018 school year, to 30 incidents in the 2018-2019 school year.

    “We are really wanting this to be a preventive, proactive measure,” Grizzle said. “We are not wanting to punish kids. We are wanting to give them a reason to say no.”

    The policy only applies to students participating in extracurricular activities like sports and marching band—who already have agreed to random drug testing for illicit or performance-enhancing drugs.

    About 60% of kids at FJSHS—which serves almost 400 students in grades 7-12—participate in extracurriculars. Under the new policy, 20-25 of these kids will be randomly selected once a month for a drug screening conducted by the school nurse.

    If they test positive, they will suspended from participating in extracurricular activities for 10 days. If they fail a second nicotine screening, they will be suspended for 45 days and must pay for themselves to attend substance abuse counseling. For a third offense, they will be forced to sit out of extracurriculars for 12 months.

    Apparently this policy isn’t the school district’s only “bright” idea. According to the Times, they are also considering installing “Wi-Fi-enabled sensors” in bathrooms and locker rooms to detect vapor or “sounds associated with smoking.”

    E-cigarettes were originally marketed as a tool to quit smoking, offering an alternative deemed safer than combustible cigarettes. However, it’s become increasingly popular among young people.

    As a result the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been cracking down on e-cigarette companies in the name of reducing and preventing youth vaping.

    “In enabling a path for e-cigarettes to offer a potentially lower-risk alternative for adult smokers, we won’t allow the current trends in youth access and use to continue, even if it means putting limits in place that reduce adult uptake of these products,” said former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a 2018 statement.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • San Francisco May Become First US City To Ban E-Cigarettes

    San Francisco May Become First US City To Ban E-Cigarettes

    San Francisco is one vote away from officially putting a “moratorium” on e-cig sales.

    San Francisco is on track to becoming the first city in the United States to effectively ban e-cigarettes—amid rising concern that youth vaping has reached “epidemic” levels.

    The city’s Board of Supervisors approved a measure that would prohibit sales of electronic cigarettes by a unanimous vote, and will need a second vote to make it official.

    “We spent the ‘90s battling Big Tobacco, and now we see its new form in e-cigarettes,” said supervisor Shamann Walton, who voiced concern over the role of e-cigarettes in increasing “nicotine addiction for middle school children [and] high school students.”

    City officials prefer to call it a “moratorium” on sales instead of a ban—put in place until there is approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to local reporter Ali Wolf.

    Though the FDA has been very vocal about the concerning rise of vaping among youth, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said that until the agency acts, “it’s unfortunately falling to states and localities to step into the breach.” Herrera said that young people “have almost indiscriminate access to a product that shouldn’t even be on the market.”

    Youth vaping has reached “epidemic” levels, said former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.

    “We didn’t predict what I now believe is an epidemic of e-cigarette use among teenagers,” said Gottlieb in a September 2018 statement. “I use the word epidemic with great care. E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous—and dangerous—trend among teens. The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end.”

    He continued, “The FDA won’t tolerate a whole generation of young people becoming addicted to nicotine as a tradeoff for enabling adults to have unfettered access to these same products.”

    Another proposal endorsed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors would ban the manufacturing of e-cigarettes on city property.

    One Nebraska school district is taking on this “epidemic” by implementing random nicotine testing on some students this fall.

    “The skyrocketing growth of young people’s e-cigarette use over the past year threatens to erase progress made in reducing youth tobacco use,” said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield. “It’s putting a new generation at risk for nicotine addiction.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mitch McConnell Pushes To Raise Minimum Smoking Age To 21

    Mitch McConnell Pushes To Raise Minimum Smoking Age To 21

    The Kentucky senator seeks to reduce smoking among America’s youth by barring all tobacco products, including vapes, until age 21.

    U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is proposing a bill that would raise the smoking age from 18 to 21. His proposal, to be introduced in May, will affect all tobacco products, including the now immensely popular vapes.

    McConnell’s home state of Kentucky is home to both a thriving tobacco industry as well as some of the highest rates of cancer in the United States. By the count of the American Cancer Society, lung cancer was responsible for about 66% of cancer deaths in Kentucky between 2012 and 2016.

    McConnell’s plan would hold retailers responsible for ensuring that all tobacco-purchasing customers are of age.

    The senator believes vaping is “the most serious threat” and hopes that raising the buying age will prevent more of these devices from being passed down to middle- and high-schoolers from their slightly older counterparts.

    Preventing teens from getting hooked early is important as almost 9 out of 10 cigarette smokers tried it before they become 18 years old, according to the CDC. Vapes seem to have exacerbated the problem, considering over 3 million high-schoolers used e-cigarettes in 2018—a 78% increase from 2017.

    “I hope my legislation will earn strong, bipartisan support in the Senate,” said McConnell. “I’m confident many of my colleagues will agree that protecting our young people from starting tobacco use at an early age can have remarkable, long-term health benefits for Kentucky and the country.”

    The bill will exclude those who serve in uniform.

    Altria, the producers of Marlboro, say they “strongly supports raising the legal age of purchase for all tobacco products.”

    McConnell’s idea isn’t novel. Twelve states have already moved to raise the smoking age to 21. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Maryland and New York are also set to enact similar laws.

    But according to one Hawaiian lawmaker, raising the age to 21 just isn’t good enough. State Representative Richard Creagan wants to eventually make it illegal for anyone under the age of 100 to get tobacco products.

    “We don’t allow people free access to opioids, for instance, or any prescription drugs. This is more lethal, more dangerous than any prescription drug, and it is more addicting, said Creagan, “We, as legislators, have a duty to do things to save people’s lives. If we don’t ban cigarettes, we are killing people.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA To Investigate Whether Vaping Causes Seizures

    FDA To Investigate Whether Vaping Causes Seizures

    The FDA will investigate cases of seizures possibly related to vaping—but no links have been made yet.

    The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it will be looking into 35 individual cases of people having seizures after vaping between 2010 and 2019.

    Most of these cases have happened to young adults or underage kids, and the FDA is concerned about the implications, according to CNBC.

    “While 35 cases may not seem like much compared to the total number of people using e-cigarettes, we are nonetheless concerned by these reported cases,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy.

    Vaping with e-cigarettes has grown in popularity, sparking concern among health experts who stress that even without the additives found in normal cigarettes, nicotine can still have negative health effects that get worse the younger the user is.

    It’s currently unclear whether the seizures in these 35 cases were caused by vaping, but these alarming and potentially dangerous neurological events can be caused by nicotine poisoning.

    “We’re sharing this early information with the public because as a public health agency, it’s our job to communicate about potential safety concerns associated with the products we regulate that are under scientific investigation by the agency,” Gottlieb and Abernethy said in their joint statement.

    Last December, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams officially declared e-cigarette use among young people to be a national epidemic. E-cigarettes are often marketed as being safe alternatives to regular cigarettes and surveys have found that young people believe the hype.

    Vaping is no less addictive than combustible smoking, and according to an article in Yale Medicine, studies are finding that “vaping increases the risk a teen will smoke regular cigarettes later.”

    Health experts are also concerned about the high concentration of nicotine in each e-cigarette “pod”—the replaceable cartridges that contain the liquid form of the drug—compared to a combustible cigarette. Some of these pods contain higher concentrations than others, and some, called “pod mods,” are made from nicotine salts that have an even higher concentration of nicotine than the traditional e-cigarette pod.

    According to the Surgeon General Advisory on e-cigarettes, they can also contain heavy metals, chemical flavorants linked to lung disease, and “volatile organic compounds.” The FDA has had difficulty keeping up with the rapid development of the vaping industry, meaning that users may be unknowingly inhaling unsafe materials.

    The National Institute on Drug Abuse also found that a full two-thirds of teens who vape believe that their e-cigarettes only contain flavoring. Only 13.2% knew that they were inhaling nicotine.

    Still, the FDA acknowledges that there are many other factors that could have led to the seizures, including other drugs taken and prior histories of seizures. 

    “We want to be clear that we don’t yet know if there’s a direct relationship between the use of e-cigarettes and a risk of seizure,” they said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Could Vaping Lead To Heart Attacks, Depression?

    Could Vaping Lead To Heart Attacks, Depression?

    The jury is still out on whether e-cigs are safer than cigarettes—but mounting evidence shows that vaping comes with its own health concerns.

    People who use e-cigarettes may be uninformed about the potential risks of vaping—though it is often portrayed as being a “safer” alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.

    Health officials worry that young people are using e-cigarettes at rising rates. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established tough regulations on vaping.

    Now, a hard-hitting new study on e-cigarettes—the “largest-ever study conducted” on the effects of vaping—claims that people who vape are more likely to suffer heart attacks, coronary artery disease and depression.

    Researcher Mohinder Vindhyal, an assistant professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine Wichita, told Science Daily, “Until now, little has been known about cardiovascular events relative to e-cigarette use. These data are a real wake-up call and should prompt more action and awareness about the dangers of e-cigarettes.”

    According to Vindhyal’s findings, adults that indulge in vaping can be 56% more likely to have a heart attack, and 30% of them are more likely to have a stroke than people who don’t use tobacco products. Similarly, people who vape are also 55% more likely to have depression and/or anxiety than people who don’t use e-cigarettes.

    Vindhyal added, “When the risk of heart attack increases by as much as 55% among e-cigarette users compared to nonsmokers, I wouldn’t want any of my patients nor my family members to vape. When we dug deeper, we found that regardless of how frequently someone uses e-cigarettes, daily or just on some days, they are still more likely to have a heart attack or coronary artery disease.”

    Some look to vaping as a way to wean off of cigarettes—but while e-cigarettes are considered less dangerous than smoking tobacco, “that doesn’t mean that vaping is safe,” Vindhyal says.

    This study gathered information from over 96,000 respondents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey over a period of several years.

    Vindhyal will present his research findings at the American College of Cardiology’s 68th Annual Scientific Session, which will be held in New Orleans on March 16.

    View the original article at thefix.com