Author: Michelle Villar

17 Dec The ACE Project Finishes 2019 Strong with Community Outreach Efforts

The ACE Project is finishing up the year strong by hosting several community outreach events at local Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Student Success Centers (SSC). 

In the past week, Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Matthew Sutherland, and Senior Research Assistant, Brigitte Madan, have visited and presented at two Student Success Centers. On December 3rd, the duo visited Overtown Youth Center and on December 10th, they visited Homestead Senior High. The SSC’s serve as a space where students ages 11 and over can receive academic and counseling support after exhibiting infractions of the Code of Student Conduct. Dr. Sutherland and Ms. Madan educated over 30 students on the harms associated with e-cigarettes/vaping use in adolescence. 

The ACE Project team then continued their outreach efforts by spending two consecutive days giving a series of educational presentations at Miami Palmetto Senior High. On December 5th, Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Elisa Trucco, and Ms. Madan gave two presentations on e-cigarettes, resulting in over 1300 students learning more about the negative effects of vaping on the brain and body. On the next day, Program  Coordinator, Nasreen Hidmi, Intake Specialist, Odette Manresa, and Ms. Madan, along with graduate students Patricio Viera Perez and Katharine Crooks, gave 27 classroom presentations at Miami Palmetto. They also set up a lunch-time information table where students were able to ask questions openly and receive more information relating to the negative effects of e-cigarettes/vaping. Over 350 students showed interest in participating in the ACE Project at Miami Palmetto Senior High.

In the past year, The ACE Project team have completed 29 community outreach events and have presented to over 5000 students and school professionals. They continue to partner up with M-DCPS middle and high schools, and their Student Success Centers, to inform the youth on the dangers of developing a dependency on nicotine from e-cigarettes/vaping. The ACE Project focuses on discovering how certain factors can influence a teen’s behavior and beliefs about substances during high school in order to understand and improve prevention efforts.

25 Nov The ACE Project Gains New Partnership and Continues Community Outreach

The ACE Project kicked off activities related to a new partnership with the Miami Dade County Public School’s Student Success Centers (SSC) this month. The M-DCPS Student Success Centers serve as an educational setting and haven for referred students ages 11 and up. The purpose of the centers is to deliver academic and counseling support to students who have exhibited infractions of the Code of Student Conduct, which may have involved the use of vaping products. The partnership involves the ACE Project team visiting all of the SSCs as well as the Secondary Success Centers (S3Cs) to educate and present on the harms of vaping/e-cigarette use among teens. This will involve visiting 14 locations through the end of the school year.

The ACE project’s Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Matthew Sutherland, and their Program Coordinator, Nasreen Hidmi, began the tour on November 1st at 500 Role Model Academy. They provided their educational presentation of the negative effects of vaping/e-cigarettes to over 20 students. On November 5th, they continued their presentations at the North Region Center, where they presented to over 25 students. Lastly, on November 15th, Dr. Sutherland and Ms. Hidmi visited the Parkway Educational Complex and gave their educational presentation to over 21 students. Later, on November 19th, Dr. Sutherland and Ms. Hidmi returned to Parkway Educational Complex, but this time to present to 18 students at the S3C Program, a program designed to accelerate educational experiences for students through computer-based instruction. The team made some additional rounds out to other schools this month. Dr. Sutherland and Ms. Hidmi returned to Miami Macarthur Educational Center on November 4th to present to 30 school teachers and counselors about the harms of e-cigarette use among adolescents. Later in the month, Ms. Hidmi and Ms. Manresa recruited and presented to over 150 students at Miami Coral Park Senior High School on November 14th and 15th.

Finally, on November 20th, Dr. Elisa Trucco and Dr. Matthew Sutherland hosted a workshop at Florida International University open to the public as part of the FIU-RCMIs Community Engagement Speaker Series. The workshop provided up-to-date information on rates of e-cigarette use/vaping among teens, the impact of vaping on the body and brain, and reasons why teens are likely to start initiating e-cigarette use. They then concluded with exciting initial research findings from the ACE Project. The workshop garnered an excellent turnout with over 60 attendees!

In the past month, The ACE Project has presented to over 230 students and 100 professional personnel to educate on the harms associated with e-cigarette use. The ACE Project continues to expand their outreach efforts to educate the youth and the community on the risks of vaping.

13 Nov Juul Ends Sale of Mint-Flavored Vape Pods

E-cigarette giant Juul announced last week that they would end the sale of their mint vaping pods, a flavor that has been extremely popular among young e-cigarette users. This news comes after Juul’s announcement last month that the company would stop selling most of their flavored pods, such as mango and cucumber. Juul will now only be selling three flavors: classic tobacco, Virginia tobacco, and menthol. A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, released before Juul’s announcement last week, found that 10th and 12th grade Juul users listed mint as their favorite flavor, while 8th graders favored mango followed by mint. Menthol was the least popular flavor chosen by the adolescents, with less than 6 percent of all grades choosing it as their favorite. 

This news comes on the heels of a September announcement by the FDA and the current administration that claimed that a national ban on flavored vaping products would soon take place. However, since that announcement two months ago, there has yet to be an official update on the specifics of this national ban, generating questions from the masses on if mint and menthol products would be included in this ban. Health officials believe that if menthol flavors remain on the market, adolescent e-cigarette users will merely switch to this flavor as opposed to quitting vaping entirely.

The country is still in panic during this vaping epidemic, with 39 deaths and 2,051 cases of severe lung disease linked to using e-cigarettes as of November 5th. Although the CDC has seemingly linked many of these cases to THC vaping, some of the patients and victims vaped nicotine exclusively, therefore leaving the cause of all these cases up in the air.

08 Nov Adolescent Flavored Vape Users More Likely to Continue Vaping

A research article published in the Pediatrics Journal this month demonstrated the impact that flavored e-cigarettes have on adolescents. The researchers surveyed teenagers from 10th to 12th grade in Los Angeles, California and found that those who vaped nontraditional e-cigarette flavors (such as fruit or candy flavors) were found to be more likely to continue vaping 6 months later and take more puffs per vaping than those who solely vape traditional flavored e-cigarettes (such as mint, menthol, or tobacco). According to the article, these results may be due to teenagers being particularly sensitive to the pleasurable effects of sweets tastes and, therefore, the nontraditional flavors generate a greater appeal and willingness to use again. 

Although the results show that adolescents are more willing to participate in e-cigarette use with non-traditional flavors, the study did have some limitations that the researchers highlighted. The data was collected in 2015 and 2016, which was before the rise of pod devices that have high nicotine concentrations which are popular today. However, the researchers still emphasize that “any regulatory policy that effectively limits youth exposure to flavored e-cigarettes is likely to improve pediatric population health”. 

Currently in the U.S., there are 8 states with an active ban or limit of sales on any flavored vaping products. The FDA also announced this September that they are working on banning all unauthorized non-tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, including mint and menthol flavors, although no update on this legislation has been seen since the announcement. 

30 Oct ReACH Lab Member Presents at the McNair Scholars Research Conference

ReACH Lab undergraduate RA, Maria Zapata, presented her poster titled “Driving Under the Influence: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation and Substance Quantity” at the FIU McNair Scholars Research Conference earlier this month. This poster comes after spending her summer in the University of Missouri-Alcohol Research Training Summer School (MU-ARTSS) program, which is designed for undergraduate students interested in alcohol research and possible careers as alcohol researchers. According to the conference website, “The annual FIU McNair Scholars Research Conference offers a dynamic, interdisciplinary forum in which undergraduate students (not limited to McNair Scholars) come together to share their research, network and partake in various professional development experiences.”

The abstract for Ms. Zapata’s poster is provided: “Alcohol remains the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. (Simons et al., 2017). In particular, driving while intoxicated is linked to motor vehicle accidents and fatalities (Amlung et al., 2014). In addition, various surveys have shown that the presence of THC has been present in 4 – 14% of drivers who faced death or injury in traffic accidents (Ramaekers et al., 2004). Therefore, investigations into factors that contribute to individuals’ decision to drive while intoxicated with alcohol or cannabis remain vital. Past research has suggested that aspects of emotion dysregulation are common foundations of several disorders including substance use problems (Simons et al., 2017). The present study will seek to understand how emotion dysregulation (measured by Brief Emotion Dysregulation Scale; BEDS) moderates the relationship between both alcohol drinking and cannabis smoking days and self-reported driving days. Thirty participants reported cannabis and alcohol use days for a three-week period via timeline follow back. Participants who reported driving while intoxicated were also asked to report the location, duration, and specific timing of the substance use episode. We predicted that individuals who score higher on the BEDS would consume more substances than those with lower scores [TT1] and be more likely to drive while intoxicated. Furthermore, we predicted that emotion dysregulation would moderate the relationship between drinking alcohol and/or smoking cannabis and driving after. Results indicated that BEDS scores did not significantly moderate the relationship between drinking or smoking and driving, nor was there a main effect between BEDS scores and driving after substance use. An unexpected finding that needs to be replicated was that larger amounts of cannabis smoked was related to driving after cannabis use.”

The ReACH Lab is very proud of Ms. Zapata’s accomplishments, congratulations Maria! 

30 Oct New CDC Report Links Most, Not All, Vaping Deaths To THC Users

A new CDC report released this Monday has provided the public with additional information on the recent vaping epidemic linked to 34 deaths and 1,604 cases of severe lung disease across the nation. Of the 34 reported deaths, the CDC had data on the substance use of 19 patients; 84% reported any use of THC-containing products, 37% reported any use of nicotine-containing products, 63% reported exclusive use of THC-containing products, and 16% reported exclusive use of nicotine-containing products. Additionally, for 29 out of the 34 deaths, the median age of the patients was 45 years old and 59% were men. Those who succumbed to their lung illness were older than the overall population of those with severe lung disease due to vaping.

Of the 1,604 cases of severe lung disease, those with available data were mostly young (79% under age 35), white (78% non-Hispanic white), and male (70% males). Additionally, about half of the cases of lung disease and 2 deaths occurred in patients under 25-years-old. Available data on 867 patients reports that 86% reported any use of THC-containing products, 64% reported any use of nicotine-containing products, 52% reported any use of both THC-containing products and nicotine-containing products, 34% reported exclusive use of THC-containing products, and 11% reported exclusive use of nicotine-containing products.

“It is evident from today’s report that these lung injuries are disproportionately affecting young people,” said Robert R. Redfield, M.D., director of the CDC. “As CDC receives additional data, a more defined picture of those impacted is taking shape. These new insights can help bring us a step closer to identifying the cause or causes of this outbreak.”

The FDA and CDC have yet to identify the cause (or causes) of the current vaping epidemic and they recommend refraining from the use of all vaping products, due to the fact that no single ingredient or chemical has been linked to all cases of lung injury and death. Additionally, due to the reports of THC use from ongoing investigations, they warn the public not to use any vaping products that contain THC especially when purchased “off the street”.

28 Oct ACE Project Takes Over Red Ribbon Week

It’s been a very busy week for the ACE Project! Our Co-Principal Investigators, Dr. Elisa Trucco and Dr. Matthew Sutherland, our Program Coordinator, Nasreen Hidmi, and our Senior Research Assistant, Brigitte Madan, received special invitations to present on the harms of e-cigarette use at five different schools/events for Red Ribbon Week.

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States. The campaign has been running for 34 years.

Dr. Trucco and Ms. Madan had a head start and kicked off things early on October 16th at Coral Park, a public high school serving students 9th through 12th grade. They presented to over 500 students and also invited them to participate in The ACE Project, which examines how certain factors influence a teen’s decision to engage in certain substances, including electronic cigarettes. The following week on October 21st, Dr. Sutherland, joined by Ms. Madan, was invited to speak at Bowman Ashe/Doolin K-8 Academy to over 300 students. The next day on October 22nd, Dr. Trucco continued the ACE Project’s community outreach efforts and presented to over 300 students at St. Agatha Catholic School, a private school serving students from 8th grade downwards, and on October 24th they were also invited to present at Young Women’s Preparatory Academy, a public magnet school that serves students from middle to high school. The ACE Project team finished off Red Ribbon Week with a bang on October 25th and completed 3 presentations at the M-DCPS Division of Student Services Annual Mini-Conference. Dr. Sutherland, with support from Ms. Hidmi, presented to over 40 school personnel on vaping among teens.

In total, the ACE Project presented to over 1100 students in the past two week to inform the youth about the harms associated with e-cigarette use. The ACE Project continues to expand their outreach efforts to educate the community on the risks of vaping.

16 Oct Vaping Bans Strike Nationwide

Following San Francisco’s citywide ban of e-cigarette sales in June, more cities, and entire states, are following suit. This comes as no surprise following the media panic after 26 deaths and 1,299 cases of severe lung disease were confirmed by the CDC and FDA to be linked to vaping. As of right now, the governors of Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Washington have introduced legislation to ban most flavored e-cigarette products, while the Massachusetts governor has banned all e-cigarette products, by enacting executive action to approve temporary bans ranging from three to six months. The governors of Ohio and Washington are taking it a step further by announcing plans to enact a permanent ban in their states. Additionally, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors unanimously decided to ban flavored e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes in Los Angeles County, and Walmart, America’s largest retailer, announced they will no longer sell any e-cigarettes. However, it seems that a national ban might be going into place sooner rather than later, after the FDA announced plans to finalize a nationwide policy change that would potentially remove flavored e-cigarettes from the market in the coming weeks. The president backed the FDA, announcing that his administration will take definite action against e-cigarette companies. 

News of the U.S. vaping crisis also seems to be affecting international markets. India recently approved a complete ban on all e-cigarette products in the country, citing the recent US deaths as one of the reasons for this ban. Additionally, British company Imperial Brands, which sells it’s popular “Blu” e-cigarette products to the U.S., says they’ve seen a marked decrease in sales from U.S. markets, and are expecting to see a lower-than-anticipated sales growth. It’s clear the recent vaping crisis will leave lasting marks worldwide; for now, it remains unclear how dramatic these effects will be. 

10 Oct ACE Project’s Community Outreach Efforts Expands to Two Local Schools

It was double trouble last week as the ACE Project continued its community outreach efforts to educate students on the harms associated with e-cigarette use/vaping. On October 4th the team split up to head out to 2 different schools: Miami Macarthur Educational Center and the Student Success Program at Andover Middle School. Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Elisa Trucco, and Senior Research Assistant, Brigitte Madan, were invited to speak at Miami Macarthur, which is an alternative educational setting that serves students from the Hollywood and Pembroke Pines area. Meanwhile Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Matthew Sutherland, joined with Program Coordinator, Nasreen Hidmi, to present at the Student Success Program at Andover Middle, which is a program that serves referred students (ages 11 and older) that are located in Miami Gardens.

The two schools are among the 12 partnerships that the ACE Project has with academic institutions located in the Miami-Dade and Broward County area, and are actively seeking schools that are currently interested in participating or are in search of community outreach. The ACE Project focuses on discovering how certain factors can influence a teen’s behavior and beliefs about substances during high school in order to understand and improve prevention efforts.

02 Oct Illegal THC Vape Cartridges Seized from Two Major Drug Operations; New CDC Report Announces Rates of THC Use in Cases of Severe Lung Disease

Two separate drug ring operations were busted in September, after authorities discovered these manufacturers were creating and selling illegal THC vape cartridges. In one Minnesota home, nearly 77,000 THC-loaded cartridges were seized, with a believed street value of $3.8 million. In this case, authorities believe the cartridges were manufactured out of state. According to the assistant commissioner with the Minnesota Department of Health, there have been 43 cases of severe lung disease linked to vaping in the state, and all of them “have admitted to vaping illegal THC.” A separate man was arrested in Wisconsin under similar circumstances, after being accused of running an illegal vaping business where he sold THC cartridges for about $22 each. Authorities reported that the drug ring filled from 3000-5000 cartridges a day, and also found more than $300,000 worth of THC oil in the home where the operation was taking place. Police are currently testing the THC oil to see if it was cut with other drugs before being filled in the cartridges.

 These two arrests come at a worrisome time concerning vaping, especially after the Center for Disease Control published two reports based off the open cases of severe lung illness linked to vaping. The report provided some statistics of these 805 cases, up from 530 reported earlier in the month: 7 out of 10 of the patients are men, the median age is 23 years old, 9 out of 10 patients have been hospitalized, and the median time between onset of symptoms and hospitalization is six days. Additionally, nearly 77% of the patients reported using THC products with their e-cigarettes while nearly 57% reported using products containing nicotine. It is important to note that the percentage of THC use is based off self report and patients may be falsely claiming to use only nicotine, or may even be unaware that the products they were using did in fact contain THC. Health officials continue to tell the media that no single ingredient or chemical has been identified as the cause for this recent outbreak in severe lung illness, including THC.

As the FDA and CDC continue to investigate, the country waits for answers.