CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State officials are rolling out a new campaign to encourage students to stop vaping.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ (DHHR) Bureau for Public Health and West Virginia Department of Education have entered into a partnership to launch the “West Virginia’s Clear Future: Don’t Let Vaping Cloud It” initiative. The campaign will introduce evidence-based and peer-led CATCH My Breath vaping prevention curriculum to every county over the next three years.
“Vaping is a huge problem all over the country, and now we’re setting out to actively educate our students about the extreme dangers associated with e-cigarettes,” Gov. Justice said Wednesday. “Vaping is very harmful for all users, but especially kids, making it a massive issue for our schools.”
The primary focus of the campaign in year one is to specifically target West Virginia middle schools. According to the data, students in their middle school years start to experiment more with using e-cigarettes and vaping devices.”
The data tells us that this is the optimal time to prevent experimentation with e-cigarettes and vaping products, said State Health Officer Dr. Matthew Christiansen. “At just the young age of 14 is when most e-cigarette initiation occurs.”
Dr. Christiansen was caught off guard at the number of students in West Virginia schools who use or have used vaping products.
“In 2021, almost half of high school students reported using or had past use of vaping or e-cigarette products,” Dr. Christiansen said. “I’m astounded by that statistic every time I hear it.”
State Superintendent of Schools Michele L. Blatt agreed that it’s a problem that has gotten out of hand in schools all across the state.
“Vaping has become a huge issue in our schools and I truly believe that our students believe that vaping is safer than cigarettes and that it’s not going to damage their health as much as regular cigarettes,” Blatt said.
Teachers and counselors can become facilitators of the CATCH My Breath program. They will receive a free two-day, six-hour, online professional learning course that will prepare them to present the curriculum to students effectively. Facilitators will then be able to deliver four 40-minute sessions to students over the span of four weeks.
Dr. Christiansen, who’s also Commissioner for DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health, said he has heard from a lot of parents and guardians who are backing the launch of this campaign.
“We’ve heard of a lot of interest, not only with teachers but among parents and really across society because everyone sees how big of an issue this,” Dr. Christiansen said.
The collaboration on this initiative involves the DHHR’s Division of Tobacco Prevention, American Lung Association, Partners in Health Network, Pallottine Foundation of Huntington and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.