Joseph Tafar, a senior at the University of Oregon, said he started vaping in eighth grade, but it didn’t become a regular habit until later in high school. What started as just wanting to blow smoke out of his mouth turned into a way to cope with stress, he said.
“As my AP load and my coursework increased, I found release in vaping,” he said.
Tafar said his nicotine addiction made it easier for him to break other bad habits he picked up in high school.
Tafar isn’t alone. The National Institutes of Health reported that in 2019, 22% of college students said they had vaped nicotine in the last month, up from around 6% in 2017. From a casual “party puffer” or a vape cartridge-a-day user, most UO students know a user or are one themselves.
The high is not the only thing that draws students to nicotine; some users say it’s also a way to be social. Matt Hall, a Ph.D. student at UO, said he started smoking cigarettes when he was 16 years old and bonded with fellow smokers at school.
“It was an easy way to make friends really quickly because I found all the smokers leave campus at lunchtime, and they all go hang out on the street,” Hall said.
Dr. Elliot Berkman, a psychology professor at UO, has researched nicotine cessation. He said while nicotine is a big factor in addiction, there is also a strong psychological factor that makes smoking and vaping addicting — and also difficult to quit.
“Cigarettes get embedded into our lives in different ways,” Berkman said. “You’re not only quitting the nicotine part, but you’re also quitting those little breaks, those little habits and routines that are really built in.”
Those little breaks are what kept Hall hooked on cigarettes. He said taking a smoke break was an enjoyable way for him to kill a few minutes when he had free time.
“I learned to really enjoy those moments because it was a way to go outside, be mindful and just be there,” he said. “And, meanwhile, holding a cigarette.”
The vaping and e-cigarette industry is worth over $6 billion and is growing fast. The products are widely viewed as a safer nicotine inhalant alternative to traditional cigarettes, but they still contain potentially harmful chemicals. They have even been marketed and used as ways to wean off cigarettes.
The Food and Drug Administration issued marketing denial orders to over 946,000 electronic nicotine products in September 2020, making them harder to market and taking some products off the shelves entirely. The FDA stated these products “lacked sufficient evidence that they have a benefit to adult smokers.”
Berkman said these orders are a good development and will keep people healthy, but they aren’t enough to solve everything.
“The tobacco industry is incredibly creative,” he said. “They’ve banned all kinds of things, and then the tobacco industry just comes up with something that’s slightly different that isn’t technically covered in the ban.”
When it comes to quitting, Tafar said he hasn’t had any luck. He said he wants to quit, but he has a lot on his plate between school and work, and quitting isn’t at the top of his to-do list.
“It’s never occurred to me as a dire priority yet,” he said. “I’ve always had other stuff that needed to get done first.”
Hall, who is now 28, managed to quit. He said he hasn’t smoked regularly in six years. He credits his roommate for helping him quit.
As for those breaks outside, Hall said he doesn’t really miss them. He fills his time with work and playing video games for fun — which he joked may be its own addiction.
“If I’m doing work, and I need a break, then I’ll just start playing a video game,” he said. “But then I’m just playing Stardew Valley for 12 hours, and I don’t get any more work done.”
These alternative habits, or “nicotine replacements,” are the most effective ways to break addiction and improve health, Berkman said. He encourages students to take advantage of counseling services at UO, as well.
Berkman said UO students should quit using tobacco to not only better their own health, but the health of the university as a whole.
“I would just encourage students to think of quitting smoking as part of being a Duck,” he said. “It sounds a little cliche, but I would say that’s something we all get on board with.”
