This video and print curriculum address the new craze of vaping drugs (nicotine, alcohol, liquid marijuana and others). Through interviews with teen users and medical professionals, this program clearly demonstrates the serious health risks of vaping, including drug overdose, instant high or drunk, alcohol poisoning, and impaired thinking and decision making. Explains that vaping delivers an unknown dose of drugs or alcohol directly to the brain. Vaping nicotine carries the additional risk of accidental swallowing of liquid nicotine which has put hundreds of teens into ERs. Vaping pens make it easy to disguise marijuana use because there is little or no odor.
Includes:
video, plus teacher’s resource book, student handouts and pre/post tests in digital format
DVD contains Spanish subtitles.
Awards
Gold CINDY Award
Silver Telly Award
Reviews
While previous programs by this distributor have covered the issue of e-cigarettes, this one adds greater depth and newer data to the recreational use of inhaling substances through water vapors. It highlights the explosion of vaping products and their attractive packaging—some mimic popular candy and drink brands—designed to appeal to almost every desire a teen might have. The film goes on to note the complete lack of purity control, the potential lethality of higher concentrations of liquid nicotine vaping products, and some of the adverse metabolic effects. The narrators also point out that online searches using the phrase “Is vaping dangerous/harmful” usually generate results at the top which are selling products, instead of offering solid information. This video also covers the increasing use of marijuana vaping, noting that in doing so teens can decrease their IQs by 8 to 10 points. Even more concerning is the fact that unlike tobacco smoke, which is mostly expelled by the lungs, vapors tend to condense and create a chemical stew, which can lead to pneumonia and other serious health issues. The section covering vaping alcohol is most disturbing and eye-opening. It’s so potent that one inhalation can contain the equivalent of 8 to 10 shots. Because vaping bypasses the stomach and liver, detoxing is almost impossible, another huge concern. VERDICT The teens sharing their experiences are eloquent and believable, making this another good video for schools and libraries to own.
—John R Clark, Hartland Public Library, ME
School Library Journal
This cautionary video takes on the rapidly spreading practice of ingesting various substances—including nicotine, alcohol, and liquid forms of marijuana—via special devices (often resembling cigarettes and pipes) that create an inhalable vapor from concentrated fluid, making the case that it represents a serious health hazard, especially for young people. Proponents of vaping as an alternative to cigarette smoking describe it as a way to get the chemical effects of nicotine without the carcinogenic byproduct caused by burning tobacco. Part of the issue here is the absence of regulation, making it possible for individuals to easily access and even overdose from heavy concentrations of nicotine. The program argues that THC (the chemical responsible for the “high” in marijuana) and alcohol—when vaped—deliver purified intoxicants directly to the bloodstream without the physiological benefits (and pacing) of the liver. A solid guidance title (bundled with a PDF teacher’s guide) on a rapidly developing and serious trend, this is recommended.
—C.Block
Video Librarian