Continued alarm about electronic cigarettes in schools

School with lots of cigarette smoke

Nguyen Thi Thao, whose child is in 7th grade at a school in the central city of Vinh, was surprised to receive information that two students in her class had just been discovered smoking electronic cigarettes. Notably, this is a selective class of the school and the two students who smoked were both female.

As the homeroom teacher, at the class's parent-teacher meeting, the teacher also shared that he was "shocked" to discover that there were students in the class using electronic cigarettes and even inviting other students to join.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Van The (in Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city) was also surprised when he received a call from his homeroom teacher informing him that his child brought an electronic cigarette to class to smoke with a group of friends.

Previously, he said that he was suspicious when he saw his son, who was in 9th grade, showing unusual signs when he often stayed in the bathroom for a long time, and his body often had strange smells like orange, mint, lemon... However, because he was subjective, he did not investigate carefully. After questioning him later, his son said that at first, when he went to school, he saw his friends smoking and invited them a few times, so he tried it once to know and then became addicted without realizing it. Because they did not have money, this group of friends often invited them to pool money together, rotating each person to keep one day so that it would be difficult for their parents to detect.

Student usage statuselectronic cigarettesare increasing, with the trend getting younger and there are quite a few cases of female students.

Recently, an 11th grade student in Vinh city was discovered intoxicated by e-cigarettes, lying unconscious on the side of the road late at night. When discovered, the student was unconscious and did not know his parents' name or address.

It is known that this student has been using electronic cigarettes for quite a long time and has had difficulty quitting because he may have become addicted to some of the addictive substances present in cigarettes.

At the recent provincial-level competition for excellent homeroom teachers, teacher Dang Khac Dam - a teacher at Dien Chau 2 High School chose the solution: Propagating the harmful effects of e-cigarettes to students and parents as the content of the presentation of measures to improve the quality of homeroom work of teacher Dang Khac Dam - a teacher at Dien Chau 2 High School at the provincial-level competition for excellent homeroom teachers this school year. The measure was built by him from the reality of 3 years of working as a homeroom teacher in class 10 A5 from the 2022 - 2023 school year to present and discovered that in the class there were at least 3 - 6 students using e-cigarettes.

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I have been teaching for nearly 25 years and find that, compared to the past, the current school environment is quite complex.

In our class, 44 students are 44 different circumstances and for many different reasons, some of them have turned to e-cigarettes and that greatly affects their health and learning at school.

Many students in class often fall into states of fatigue, drowsiness, and depression. Among students who use tobacco, there are those who use it out of curiosity or are enticed by their friends. But besides that, there are those who are influenced by their family environment.

Teacher Dang Khac Dam - Dien Chau 2 High School

To accompany students, teacher Dang Khac Dam spent a lot of time learning about the characteristics of electronic cigarettes, their harmful effects, how to prevent them, and finding opportunities to talk to students and parents. Through the implementation process, teacher Dang Khac Dam also admitted that "preventing electronic cigarettes among students" encountered many difficulties for many reasons such as "abundant supply, students can easily buy cigarettes in many different forms". Meanwhile, sanctions still face many difficulties if there is no involvement of authorities in checking and handling traders.

Many hidden dangers

Talking about e-cigarettes, Dr. Nguyen Duc Tai - Deputy Head of the Department of Geriatric Pediatric Psychiatry, Nghe An Psychiatric Hospital expressed concern that the trend of using cigarettes is getting younger, shifting from adults to students. The second trend is shifting from using traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes. Meanwhile, the danger from e-cigarettes is very harmful.

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E-cigarettes also contain nicotine. Therefore, people who use e-cigarettes are at risk of respiratory diseases, pneumonia, and difficulty breathing. In addition, e-cigarettes also contain many flavorings and essential oils, which can cause mental disorders. People who use e-cigarettes may have emotional symptoms such as irritability and lack of concentration. Substances in e-cigarettes can also cause hallucinations in users.

Doctor Nguyen Duc Tai - Nghe An Mental Hospital

Reality also shows that, due to the increasing demand, the recent situation of trading in electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products and new addictive substances in Nghe An in general and Vinh city in particular has had many potential complicated developments.

Statistics show that from 2024 to present, Nghe An Provincial Police have discovered and handled more than 20-30 cases and violators related to the buying and selling of drugs disguised as food, beverages, electronic cigarettes and violations of the law related to laughing gas; seized more than 15,000 electronic cigarettes, 200 grams of tobacco fibers, 180 N gas cylinders.₂O. Of which, 19 cases were administratively sanctioned, 27 subjects were prosecuted and 1 case with 3 subjects was prosecuted for illegal drug trafficking disguised as electronic cigarettes.

Captain Tran Huu Dac - Drug Crime Investigation Police Department, Provincial Police added: Currently, the buying and selling of electronic cigarettes on social networks is taking place openly. With the direct channel, students can become retail agents for students in schools; buy through grocery stores selling around schools. With the indirect channel, students can buy and sell through social networking sites, social networking groups, or on e-commerce platforms. Just having an account is enough to contact to buy, ship to your door. Therefore, managing the buying and selling of electronic cigarettes is difficult.

Regarding this issue, recently, at the forum "What I want to say" with the topic "Say no to cigarettes, e-cigarettes and new addictive substances" organized by the Department of Education and Training in collaboration with Tien Phong Newspaper and the Provincial Youth Union, many worrying numbers were also presented.

In fact, in recent years, the Ministry of Education and Training has directed and promoted propaganda and education on the prevention of the harmful effects of tobacco among students and the construction of “Tobacco-free schools”. In particular, the Ministry of Education and Training has proposed to introduce regulations prohibiting smoking for students. However, the strict prohibition of the use of tobacco and addictive substances in schools and among students still faces many difficulties…

In the coming time, the Ministry will continue to strengthen direction, inspection and supervision of strict implementation of the provisions of the Law on Prevention of Tobacco Harms in educational institutions and the implementation of the National Assembly's Resolution on banning the sale and use of electronic cigarettes; promote education and communication on prevention and control of the harmful effects of tobacco and electronic cigarettes and build "Tobacco-free schools".