Cumberland schools tackling the other drug epidemic hitting youth: nicotine

Cumberland County Schools is implementing a national vaping and nicotine prevention program in each of its middle and high schools to try and curb rates of youth vaping. 

Once the school year starts, the 34 middle and high schools in the district join 56 others across the state that have already implemented the prevention program since its launch in 2017.

The program, called CATCH My Breath, is an evidence-based youth vaping prevention program geared towards fifth through 12th graders. It is the only school-level youth vaping intervention program recognized by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

Rates of e-cigarette use among Cumberland students aren’t available, but across North Carolina, 21.4% of high school respondents to the state’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey said they currently vaped. The same survey found that nearly 10% of middle schoolers vaped. The state’s rates are significantly higher than the national rates of 10% for high schoolers and 4.6% of middle schoolers, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

“It really took our kids by storm,” said Sanquis Graham, local health administrator with Cumberland County’s Dept. of Public Health who oversees the region’s Tobacco Control Program.

The chemicals in electronic cigarettes, commonly called vapes, can severely damage the lungs, according to studies reviewed by the American Lung Association. The nicotine in them, which can be in higher quantities than traditional cigarettes, can also impact a child’s brain development. Several peer-reviewed studies found that nicotine negatively affects teens’ memory and attention and can increase their risk of developing other mental and behavioral problems later in life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nicotine can also harm parts of the brain that control attention, mood and impulse control.

CATCH My Breath’s curriculum attempts to empower students with this information for them to decide whether to pick up an e-cigarette, Marcella Bianco, the program’s director of government partnerships, explained.

“We don’t say ‘Dare not to do drugs” or ‘Just say no.’ We don’t do any of that,” Bianco said. “It’s like, ‘Here are the facts.’” 

The program’s curriculum includes a four-part series of lessons, with one set for fifth through eighth graders and another for high schoolers. The lessons teach students about the dangers of vaping, vaping marketing and resources for quitting vaping. Students that go through the program are 45% less likely to vape, according to Bianco.

Cumberland County piloted CATCH My Breath in 2022, and had teachers in the restorative justice classrooms of Howard Learning Academy Middle School and Pine Forest High School run the program. The pilot was enough of a success that the county is now training one person in every middle and high school in the district to implement the program on a needs-basis in restorative justice classrooms this school year.

“We specifically want to focus and target our middle schools, trying to intervene as early as possible,” said Dr. Melody Chalmers McClain, associate superintendent of Student Support Services for the county.

Teacher concerns around increasing the suspension rates of students caught vaping on school property prompted the initial pilot and current implementation of CATCH My Breath into county schools, said Graham.

Data on the suspension rates for tobacco use, which includes both standard and e-cigarette use, in Cumberland County schools were unavailable as of publication due to changes in the county schools’ data systems. The state’s Consolidated Data Report for the 2022-23 school year had over 4,500 instances of possession of a controlled substance, an increase from previous years. North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction’s Office for Data and Analytics said the increase resulted from schools more accurately logging instances of vaping in concert with other information about substance and tobacco use.

Part of the difficulty in curbing youth e-cigarette use has been the intensity of the industry’s marketing towards kids, particularly through social media influencers, said Bianco. In the 2021 Youth National Tobacco Survey, 73.5% of youth that use social media reported seeing e-cigarette–related content. Bianco recalled an instance where her son was even subject to content in which a fishing YouTuber he watched was sponsored by a spitless tobacco brand. 

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein sued Juul, a popular e-cigarette brand, in 2019. In 2021, he reached a $40 million settlement with the company for its role in targeting teens in its advertising.

In Cumberland County, Chalmers McClain and Graham said the growing number of vape shops opening near schools with their colorful and bright lights to attract students is also part of the problem. For example, Ramsey Street Alternative High School has two vape shops within a six-minute walk from the school. Lewis Chapel Middle School has one just a three-minute walk away.

“Just in riding around Fayetteville, it is definitely noticeable the number of new shops that have been opening up,” Chalmers McClain said. “Oftentimes, I will see them in close proximity to a school and saying, ‘Wow, how easy it could be— how easy it is, I’m sure, for a child to access those products.” 

While the federal purchasing age of tobacco is 21, North Carolina law still lists it as 18, and many vape shops are operating under that age.

“The vape shops are adjacent to the schools, therefore [students] can walk across the street, purchase vapes at 18,” said Graham. “Kids are not afraid to share vapes. So, once your 18-year-old friend has one, and you’re 17, they don’t mind sharing them.”

In January, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners passed a new ordinance that prevents new vape shops from opening within 1,000 feet of a school to address youth nicotine consumption.

Chalmers said some students are realizing the dangers of vaping after seeing their peers struggle with nicotine addictions. She believes that adding the CATCH My Breath education only solidifies it for them.

“CATCH gives them the tools, and then those lived experiences makes it real for them,” Chalmers said. “So, I think that that combination will do well for the kids in Cumberland County.”

More information about youth vaping and CATCH My Breath is available on the program’s website. 

CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the CityView News Fund.