There are a lot of places where students can find information about vaping and how unhealthy it is, how dangerous it can be. But, something is missing.

Where is the information on how to stop this terrible habit?

When students get caught vaping in a bathroom, they receive a packet labeled “Student Enrollment and Completion Instructions Tobacco Education 1.0 Online Course.”

This packet instructs you on how to navigate to the website where you watch “3 modules with 40 minutes of videos” and after you are given a “multiple-choice assessment, and a checkout with an administrator for grading.”

In the first module, you’re given three videos to watch, the first labeled “Tobacco Growth,” which is one minute and 36 seconds long. The second labeled “Cigarette manufacturing,” this one being one minute and 26 seconds long. And the third labeled “Cigarette smoke,” one minute and 18 seconds long.

None of the videos on the sheet have anything to do with how to quit vaping, even in the second module which includes 23 minutes worth of video.

The education course is about what nicotine and tobacco are and the effects they have on your body. Obviously, these kids have already started, knowing the risks and are more than likely addicted if they risk the possibility of getting caught just to get a buzz in school.

A senior explains her experience going to an in-person course for tobacco education after getting caught freshman year. “They just told us that it was bad for us, they gave us no resources or information on how to quit [vaping].”

A junior says that his body is “dependent on it and [he’s] not in the mental state to go through withdrawal.” The 16-year-old has tried quitting but “it never really worked.”

Another senior says she was “peer pressured in seventh grade” to try vaping by her sister, then continued to do it with friends. The girl has struggled with quitting and “sometimes at home [she] gets cravings.”

According to health teacher Jacquelyn Williams, to combat nicotine use, the school has a penalty if you’re caught, which increases per number of times caught. They also have the HCPS Drug-Free School Zone policy and drug education from Elementary school to High school.

The school could do more. They could provide a temporary substitution to vapes, such as patches and gum and educate parents and students about what the best way is for kids to quit.

Another idea is weekly counseling with a teacher or guidance counselor who can help them set goals each week to help work them towards quitting.

“Nicotine is one of the more addictive substances,” Williams says.  “Withdrawal from nicotine is kind of like a very strong caffeine withdrawal.”

According to many websites, nicotine is highly addictive physically and mentally, meaning habitual users not only crave the chemical and become accustomed to using nicotine in “certain situations, such as after meals or when under stress.”

A freshman even admits that she uses nicotine to “not feel hungry” so she can “lose weight.”

Quitting smoking and vaping is something even adults struggle with, so how are students as young as 12 years old expected to know how to quit when not hitting a Juul once an hour makes them sick?

If someone doesn’t want to quit, they’re not going to. However, more than half the students who talked about vaping in a recent interview said they have tried to quit before but couldn’t without the proper resources.

The school can and should be responsible for exhausting all resources in order to help our students instead of punishing them repeatedly for the same mistake they don’t know how to fix.