Blog 7- Addiction/Use
Drugs, Vaping and Marijuana in Schools
Drug use and addiction has become quite frequent and common in our country. Especially among young children and young adults. The most popular addiction to have is vaping. Whether it be vaping nicotine, marijuana or just vaporized water, vaping has become extremely popular and “cool” for young people. Vaping is relatively new to the drug use scene and the affects are still not all known. In one vape there is usually the same amount of nicotine as in a pack of cigarettes. And this is not to say that smoking cigarettes are any better because they are not but vaping is just tremendously worse. That is not even taking into account the countless amount of chemicals that are in vapes that so many people do not even realize could be in vapes.
In the video, “Vaping in Schools: Juuling is Popular Among Teens Despite Health Risks”, students and staff in a Connecticut school discuss the dangers of vaping and the steps the school is taking to inform students of the dangers. The Principal mentions how he has had informational sessions for teachers as well as having guest speakers come in to educate students and staff on the dangers of vaping. I find this very important to educate people about the dangers of something like vaping because although it might not stop everyone from vaping there is a chance some might realize how harmful these chemicals can be to their lungs, brain and bodies. I personally think that in order for more students to stop vaping they need to see first hand how it can harm people but being that this form of drug use is still on the newer side, there have not been a lot of cases of harm from vaping. I hope that the school I work in, in the future holds these informational sessions, has guest speakers and makes the extra effort to stop/prevent children from vaping.
“Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.” (SAMHSA, 2023)
I would consider vaping a gateway drug in a sense because most kids start out vaping and sharing vapes with their friends and then begin to experiment and try other things. One of those things is marijuana. Since marijuana can be smokes, these vape companies have created “carts” that contain a form of marijuana. This now allows people to have easy access to smoking marijuana as well as just regular vaping.
The lesson plan that I focused on for this module was, “ Mind Matters: The Body’s Response to Marijuana”. The lesson plan was in the form of a booklet which I think is more engaging and interesting for students to learn from rather than the classic PowerPoint presentation or note packet. The lesson first begins with the basic definition of what Marijuana is and how it is used. I think it is very important to define the drug and say how people use it so then a person can identify it if they come into contact or see someone using. There were also some good graphics throughout the booklet that enhanced some of the information being discussed within the little text sections. There was a graph on the first page that showed the daily marijuana use over 2 years among three different grade levels (8,10,12). This graph was really able to show the increases that certain grades have in marijuana use. Having graphics like this can put more of a visual idea into students heads which might make more of an impact. The next section went into how marijuana works, how it alters the brain and body as well as short and long term effects of marijuana use. As much as it is very important for how the drug can alter your body, I think that this lesson plan could have went into a little more detail of how it can change you body. And same thing with the long and short term effects. I think it is very important for these effects to be named but I wish each effect could have been explained in a little bit more depth because sometimes as much as lists are great, they can be easily dismissed by students. A lot of times students just read the first bullet or two and move on with the reading because they do not think it is important. Next, the lesson plan goes on to discuss how you can become addicted to marijuana, what medical marijuana is and if marijuana is legal. I think that it is very beneficial for students to understand that there are good parts about marijuana but there are also times where people who are prescribed the drug can become addicted by abusing it. I wish that would have been included or something along those lines, even just explaining addiction a little more would have been better as well. And lastly, there was a very brief point about is someone you knew needed help and what to do. I personally did not think that this was very effective because they very vaguely said what someone could do to help someone else. I think it would have been much better if resources were put at the end with links, phone numbers or even just a bunch of different type of people students could reach out to for help. With the younger generations, if things are not easily accessible there is not as much of a chance for them to take initiative and help. If the resources and steps are laid out on a silver platter for them, help can be found quicker and easier.
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References:
Lesson Plan and Activity Finder. (n.d.). National Institute on Drug Abuse. https://teens.drugabuse.gov/teachers/lessonplans?sort=created%3Adesc&language=en
Superville, R.A. & Prothero, A. (2019, August 27). The student vaping crisis: How schools are fighting back. Education Week.
Tobacco, e-cigarettes, and vaping. SAMHSA. (2023, June 6). https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/atod/tobacco
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, June 13). Mind matters: The body’s response to marijuana. National Institutes of Health. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/parents-educators/lesson-plans/mind-matters/marijuana
Vaping in Schools: 'Juuling' is Popular Among Teens Despite Health Risks. (2018). PBS News Hour. Retrieved on October 29, 2020
Hey Kailey,
ReplyDeleteThis is a respectful and instructive response!! Your idea about connecting the amount of nicotine in vaping is very creative. Vaping and using cigarettes have mostly the same damaging results, but I have never heard that one use of a vape pen or Juul is equivalent to a whole pack of cigarettes (if I read that correctly). That statistic alone should warn smokers. Some resources state that vaping helps smokers to quit using cigarettes. Do you agree or disagree with that message? I like how you mentioned that the principal of the Connecticut school recruits teachers and guest speakers to persuade people about the dangers of using nicotine and how to stop this process. These discussions and assemblies should start in middle school since that is the age when peer pressure from drugs usually kicks in. However, the strongest part of your work was that students prefer vaping as an escape break from classes, whereas they would not necessarily vape at home. Students with strict parents may be afraid to have their parents smell the nicotine on them since homes are not packed and are more private. Did you consider how you want to inform guest speakers and bring up informational sessions to your given school administration? I would love to know the tactics to use and how long it will take for the school to approve these ideas. I also wonder if reducing the amount of words in the lesson to add images such as infographics or diagrams would help students understand the message more. One problem I see is for the students who are already addicted to nicotine. How would you, as an educator, encourage specific individuals to stop using these smoking tools? Teenagers tend to pay less attention to various conservation measures about drugs, smoking, and alcohol. Thank you for sharing the lesson with us and how it impacted through writing!!!
Hi Kailey! Great post, I loved reading what you had to say! At first, I was confused when you said vaping was the most common form of addiction. However, you then went on to explain the various types of vaping and how it comes in many forms. I completely agree with you about having students see firsthand the harmful effects. I too, mentioned it has not been around long enough to provide any research. People used to think smoking was “cool” too, now when you hear or see it, it gets a different response. For the lesson plan, is there anything that could be taken (information-wise) and transformed into a new lesson? If so, how could you make this lesson fit into your classroom's content area and establish your expectations?
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