Overcome a key challenge with our new test for nicotine use.

This new test, like all Psychemedics tests, detects substance usage over a 90-day window enabling you to identify and help students who are at risk of forming a lifelong nicotine habit. Our test finds nicotine ingested by any means including vaping.

The Sad Truth About Teens and Nicotine.

All the research points to the same dismal conclusion. If teens become teen-smokers they risk multiple outcomes, all of which are bad. Nicotine at a young age does not just addict, it affects how the part of the brain governing pleasure and impulsive behavior develops. Within 8 seconds of inhaling smoke from a hookah, cigarette or cigar the nicotine reaches that brain center. And the effects may be more dramatic when vaping nicotine.  The threat is the potential for impulsive behavior in an age group that is already impulsive, or for a lifelong addiction. Some Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics are sobering.

• Each day, nearly 3,200 people younger than 18 smoke their first cigarette.
• Every day, an estimated 2,100 youth and young adults who have been occasional smokers become daily cigarette smokers.
• If smoking continues at the current rate among youth in this country, 5.6 million of today’s Americans under the age of 18 – or about 1 in every 13 young people – could die prematurely (too early) from a smoking-related illness.
• There has been a 38.3% increase in tobacco use by teens since 2017

Whatever the source, nicotine is a chemical that is far too overused and abused by teens who may have little knowledge of the profound effects it will forever have on their lives. We have selected the articles below as they remind us that teens’ use of nicotine from any source carries consequences far into their futures, and that helping shape positive futures is a responsibility we all share.

Teens Don’t Even Know Their e-Cigarette Is Packing Nicotine

Recent studies have shown that teenagers who enjoy vaping are blissfully aware that they are being exposed to a lifelong addiction rather than a flavored smoke.

Walgreens Is Latest To Reset Vape And Nicotine Goods Policy

While some retailers like CVS and RiteAid have dropped or plan to drop nicotine products, others are raising the purchase age. Both are solid steps in the right direction.

Experts: Vaping Nicotine Disrupts Teen Brain Development

This article from the Los Altos Town Crier is full of useful data and information on the effects vaping and nicotine use have on the teen brain. It is a must read.

Psychemedics Information and Fact Sheet on Nicotine

We have put together an information sheet that educates, informs and provides a platform for a frank and fact-driven conversation with a teen about nicotine risks.