Niles Davis Photography

Cigarette smoking loses popularity, nicotine products evolve

By Niles Davis

Hxa3@txstate.edu

AUSTIN— Nicotine addiction has fueled the long-time tradition of smoking, but sleek e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches carry the torch now; some medical professionals recommend alternative nicotine products for smokers.

Keeping vapes out of kids’ hands

Vaping has infiltrated schools and introduces young audiences to early nicotine addiction. 

-In 2022, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported 27.3% of 12th graders say that they were vaping nicotine in the past year. A new Texas law was passed last Fall to address vaping in schools by relocating students who were caught using or possessing vape devices. School districts are now allowed to send them to a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) or suspend them.

-College and noncollege young adults in 2022 over the past 12 months vape daily, at 26.4% and 30.9% respectively. Nicotine vaping never went below the pre-pandemic levels and should be monitored closely moving forward.

Although not as notorious for tanking public health as cigarettes are, vaping still gets people addicted to the nicotine in them. That addiction is often a battle that lasts for years and can be a gateway to smoking cigarettes if it’s convenient.

“I’ve noticed companies mimicking childhood flavors, like Bomb Pops, and using our nostalgia to make sales,” said Peavey Braunhoz, retail clerk at Planet 420 in San Marcos. “The fruit on the packaging and nice colors make it look like a toy. It reminds me of getting something in a kid’s meal. Kids don’t know that this toy could kill you.”

Nicotine products should be used by people trying to quit smoking

After e-cigarettes hit the market, heat-not-burn products soon appeared, being a product of the tobacco giant Phillip Morris. According to Jasjit Ahluwalia, physician and public health scientist at Brown University, the tip of a cigarette burns at 900 degrees Fahrenheit. “That’s hot enough to cook a pizza,” said Ahluwalia. “Heat-not-burn products don’t combust, so it stays under 200 degrees.”

Phillip Morris transitions to vaping industry 

Tobacco companies have a new agenda to stay in business; they’re fighting their old campaigns from the side of the vape community.

"They definitely did target people of a lower socioeconomic status from the 1950’s into the 90’s,” said Ahluwalia. “But it’s not fashionable to kill people anymore, it’s not vogue.”

 E-cigarette product leaders want to pull people away from tobacco products. They are public companies who have to consider their shareholders. Some companies, like Vuse and Njoy, look to reduce harm. Others, like Juul, are discreetly owned by tobacco corporations like Phillip Morris. 

“You might think we’re playing a silly game of Whac-a Mole; knocking out cigarettes and knocking out vaping, but people are moving to a gradient of dramatically safer products,” said Ahluwalia. “I would rather have someone smoke an e-cigarette than a cigarette. I would much rather have them not smoke anything.”

Disproportioned Texans more susceptible to smoking tobacco

By Niles Davis

Hxa3@txstate.edu

AUSTIN— Woven into the tapestry of Western culture, smoking starts a debate on tradition, societal norms, and mental health.

“America was John Wayne, Marlboro cigarettes, Levi’s jeans, and baseball,” said Jasjit Ahluwalia, physician and public health scientist at Brown University.

Hollywood’s period films glamorized women smoking Virginia Slims because it was attractive, and men smoking Marlboros because it was very masculine. Investigating the beginning of cigarettes being part of an aesthetic can take one back very far in history.

Infrastructure

A new ban in Austin disallows smoking indoors, changing the tradition of many old-time haunts. Still though, airports and bars with smoking areas built into the infrastructure retain customers by giving them a space to smoke in public.

Dave Pelletier, 37, of Fall River, Massachusetts, used to smoke up to 35 cigarettes a day. He is now down to one a day since switching to e-cigarettes. When Pelletier was a heavy smoker, he could smoke in the designated areas at a Six Flags amusement park. On another trip, he found Disneyland doesn’t allow smoking anywhere on park grounds

“Money matters,” said Pelletier. “Some companies that will go to a limit, like Six Flags, will have more smoking sections. People are just trying to smoke a quick cigarette and get back inside. So, I think money has a lot to do with it from a business standpoint.”

He said larger companies don’t necessarily need an incentive that some families might find off-putting, just to get more foot traffic.

The smoking cycle is often found in certain communities

According to the CDC, The tobacco industry takes advantage of socially-vulnerable communities. It leads to more health risks and furthers pre-existing socioeconomic disparity. In the African American community, the tobacco industry directly mailed promos to people, and used urban language and culture to sell menthols.

Some targeted communities tend to be rural areas and those in poverty. As tobacco companies make sales with kindly discounted rates, a cycle begins.

Medical experts see the pattern 

The American Lung Association reports that smoking causes the most preventable diseases and deaths-across the world. People on life assistance end up relying on technology that could be used for folks with unpreventable diseases. 

Shanti Nulu, cardiologist with Ascension Medical Group in Austin, Texas, said that operating on patients with strong smoking addictions is disheartening; they’re not doing their part in the recovery process. Cessation reduces the risk of expensive complications if the body can heal itself. 

Nulu said people are usually quite critical of big executives who make money off them and finds it ironic that the predatory companies are still being funded by smokers. 

“The cost of cigarettes often competes with other essential needs,” said Nulu. “Smokers have to make difficult trade-offs that they normally wouldn't need to.”

Nulu recently had a houseless patient who bussed from Central Austin to her office in Cedar Park. He smokes two packs a day, and Nulu said with that $600 per month he could likely afford his own transportation or start looking at housing options.

Poor access to medical help tends to prevent people from quitting

The Mental Health Foundation says smoking briefly alleviates withdrawal symptoms, reinforcing the habit and leading many smokers to develop nicotine dependence.

Ahluwalia considers mental health issues to be the root of people self-medicating with nicotine.

“Nicotine behaves like medications that release dopamine to treat depression,” said Ahluwalia. “So people are medicating themselves for problems that should be treated by pediatricians, psychologists, and psychiatrists. One of three college students will get real diagnosed anxiety and/or depression.”

In a 2020 online survey, the National Library of Medicine reported more than 60% of students with moderate to severe symptoms never used on-campus mental health services. More than two-thirds of students never used off-campus mental health services.

For more information about quitting tobacco, visit American Heart Association at https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking-tobacco.

For one-on-one and group support in Austin, visit https://integralcare.org/program/tobacco-cessation.

Sources

Shanti Nulu 512-585-2326 shantinulu@utexas.edu

Peavey Braunhoz 737-704-4229

Jasjit S Ahluwalia 401-863-6654  asjit_ahluwalia@brown.edu

Everett Milsaps 713-471-5620 Vape City, Houston, TX 

Dave Pelletier 774-528-9229