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Corvallis Middle School is the pilot location for a youth peer-to-peer anti-vape education program called ReACT.

Jenna Pateman, Ravalli County's Tobacco Prevention Specialist, based out of the Public Health Office in Hamilton, said vaping is a huge problem for middle school age youth.

"It is huge in high school but it is becoming even more of an epidemic for middle schoolers," Pateman said. "We are hoping that by targeting students in seventh and eighth grade we can stop them before they start, or get them the education before they are addicted. In Montana, one in three teens are addicted to nicotine."

Seventh-grade students in the CMS ReACT group said they joined ReACT with the hope of making a difference.

"I don't think people should vape," Risa Zeiler said. "It can destroy your life and it leads to a bunch of illnesses and mental health issues. That isn't something anyone should have to live with. It may be cool at the moment but when you have to live with these issues, you'll seriously regret it."

Ian Beach said he felt positive the group could have an impact.

"I like to help my community," he said. "This helps the community not vape. There should be fewer people buying vapes and getting sick."

JJ Jones said the ReACT group is growing stronger.

"I know a lot of people who are family and used to be friends who are now in a really bad place," she said. "I want to help people so they can prevent their life from going in the wrong direction and stay on the right path."

She said medical issues are the worst thing about vaping. "My uncle died from cigars and vape users can easily go from vaping to cigarettes to cigars and these just ruin your lungs," Jones said. "You can get lung cancer and die. It is a horrible thing to go through. It is really sad."

Tanner said he joined because of personal experience.

"My brothers, well, they are legal now but they snuck vape smoking," he said. "It is just not good for people to get in the habit of vaping or sneaking."

The eighth-grade members in ReACT said the group stands strong together.

Caden Wiediger, president of CMS ReACT, said peer-to-peer mentoring will help kids stop vaping and make the community better.

He's never tried vaping. "My friends wanted me to but I never did," he said. "[Vape companies] try to try to target kids with fun flavors and fun designs. They try to target kids for their money because they don't care what happens to the kids, they just want their money." As president he leads the meetings and helps teach the educational materials.

"Kids have better therapy hearing information from their peers," he said.

Landon Watrous said ReACT is encouraging and supportive.

"I don't like vaping because people I know used to do it," he said. "I'm trying to be against it. I don't want to try it at all. My family has had a history of smoking. It's a family curse, or a family addiction. I'm going to help peers. The people who make vapes don't care if anyone dies, it's just all about the money."

The group discussion on Monday was about how vaping costs money and students get vapes from friends, or from stealing money. They said this year vapes shapes can look like highlighter markers and air pods.

Watrous said ReACT meetings teach kids to resist peer pressure.

"Some kids are scared to say no," he said. "They may be called a scaredy-cat and so they try it and get addicted."

Pateman's goal is to reach each school in the Bitterroot Valley.

"I educate students in sixth through eighth grade about the dangers of nicotine and vaping," she said. "Corvallis has been awesome about piloting this group and educating on a peer-to-peer level. Students can come to me confidentially but there are some things kids don't want to talk to adults about."

She will train students to reach out to the resources such as 'My Life, My Quit' which is the Montana Quit Line's answer to youth vaping.

https://www.lung.org/ quit-smoking/helpingteens-quit/indepth is the program from the American Lung Association. It is selfguided and includes information about vaping and tobacco, and provides stress relief activities to support quitting.

"This is our first year doing it so we are excited to see the difference it can make and what it can evolve into," Pateman said. "It is a free, confidential resource for kids who are vaping. ReACT teaches kids that vaping isn't just cotton candy-flavored water. The ReACT kids educate their peers and get them alternatives to just saying 'no'. They also make it be cool not to vape."

Principal Richie Borden said the ReACH program is successful and important.

"It is nice to have the relationship with Jenna," Borden said. "She has been coming the last couple of years and presenting to our seventhand eighth-grade kids on the dangers of vaping. If we do have a student who is caught bringing a vape to school and they are cited for it, she does the class with them."

He said that he used to have cited students complete an online class and receive certification for completing the class.

"It was good, but now we have a connection to someone who went to school here and has been a valley resident for a long time," Borden said. "She's been a good resource for us."

Pateman said the course she does with students caught with vapes in Corvallis and Florence schools is called "InDepth."

"It is in lieu of a Minor in Possession (MIP) for firsttime offenders," she said.

ReACT Montana empowers youth to engage and inspire others with a goal of being the first tobacco-free generation in Montana.

The ReACT website https://mtreact.com/whowe-are/ says, "We don't sit around. We stand up, speak out. We reACT to the lies and manipulation from Big Tobacco and the Vaping Industry."

The reach Pateman, contact her at the Ravalli County Health Department, 205 Bedford St., Suite L, or call 406-2105304.

https://ravallirepublic.com/program-points-out-dangers-of-vaping-to-teens/article_104ea1bc-c14e-5680-8fbf-1d02fd7972c7.html