Nicotine seems harmless to teens compared to more “dangerous” drugs, such as heroin, but it’s just as or even more addictive. Nicotine has become commonplace in high schools, with easy access to products such as e-cigarettes, pouches, patches, gum, and more. The nicotine epidemic has taken over school bathrooms and countless students’ lives; as of 2024, 1.63 million high school and middle school students use vapes. Editor’s note: The Pitch changed some names to protect the privacy of minors who requested anonymity.

Archie Williams administrators have implemented preventive measures, including smoke detectors and cameras outside bathrooms, to mitigate vaping on school grounds. However, these measures have not addressed all nicotine use on campus.  While smoke detectors limit vape usage, they fail to reduce the usage of smoke-free nicotine products, like Zyns.

“There’s nothing the school can really do to stop kids from using these products. I mean, especially out of school, they have no control over it,” said Ally, an anonymous student and nicotine user.

Part of the reason students want to obtain vapes is their designs, which appeal to younger audiences. Companies that produce vapes intentionally market their products to youth, using colorful packaging and a wide array of enticing flavors to cover up the addictive, chemical-filled liquid. The adolescent lung is in development, making it more vulnerable to chemical irritants like carcinogens and heavy metals than an adult lung. Nicotine can also inflict brain damage and functional changes like impaired cognitive function and mood on underdeveloped brains due to the brain not fully maturing until age 25. 

“Most kids have easy access to vapes or Zyns; you can get them from peers and just around for 30 bucks,” Ally said.

High school and even middle school students report that it’s not hard to find nicotine products without the knowledge of teachers or parents. Nicotine products circulate easily within peer groups and are frequently shared among the student body. Companies increase popularity with new appealing flavors and the temporary sensation nicotine provides, making the drug seem less harmful than other products by marketing flavorful products. 

“It turned into regular use because I really like the flavors of all the vape products. I just like the taste of them, and I like the feeling of the nicotine rush going into my body,” said Trevor, an anonymous student from AWHS.

Teenagers with developing brains, particularly an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision making and impulse control, tend to let long-term consequences take a backseat to short-term nicotine highs. Nicotine products have become normalized within teenage culture, making it difficult for individuals to avoid them or quit once they start. What begins as occasional use can quickly become a habit, and many users show little urgency to stop, despite the known health risks.

“Every time I see someone [inhaling vapor], it makes me want to vape more, making it harder to stop. But I could quit any day,” Trevor said.

Archie Williams Wellness Center, run by a staff of nine, provides students with a safe space for any personal problems, including substance abuse. They provide one-on-one counseling, addiction education about the effects of vaping and nicotine use, and services and programs to help students reduce or quit in a safe and supportive environment. 

Beatrix Berry, an outreach specialist for Wellness, shares how they have been supporting students with this issue. Every Wednesday during tutorial, the school offers a student support program called Reset to spread awareness on nicotine and reduce usage.

“We provide quit kits, so if somebody does want to quit, we have kits that we can give you, and they have some things in them that kind of fill that gap or fill that need. If someone is used to putting their vape to their mouth all the time, we have a breathing whistle [to replace that motion], we also have chapsticks, so it recreates that hand-to-mouth kind of feeling that becomes a habit. And then we also have some flavored stuff, like mouth spray and gum for if your body is craving that flavoring as well,” Berry said.

Reset is one of several ways Archie Williams administrators are attempting to address nicotine use through support rather than punishment alone. By offering programs and practical tools to manage cravings, the Wellness Center acknowledges that nicotine dependency is not just a behavioral issue, but a mental health challenge as well. While preventive measures such as smoke detectors and cameras are more direct, they send a message to students that there are consequences to their actions. 

“I think that by the admin showing that they care, I hope that people will start to recognize that, ‘Oh, I can actually go to them for support instead of just getting in trouble or just getting this confiscated, or maybe I really needed that confiscated today,’” Berry said. 

The Archie Williams administration is employing both supportive and disciplinary methods to push back against the rise of nicotine addiction among the student body. Despite these efforts, vaping remains commonplace on campus, making it unclear how well these policies are working and whether there are additional and more effective strategies to implement.