Amy Taylor of #TruthInitiative and LaQuesha Wilkins of Grier Middle School discuss #youthvaping health threat ~ @truthinitiative

Host Cyrus Webb welcomes Amy Taylor of Truth Initiative and LaQuesha Wilkins of Grier Middle School to Conversations LIVE to discuss the youth vaping public health threat and what Truth Initiative is doing to combat it with the help of schools.

www.truthinitiative.org/vaping-curriculum

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cyrus-webb-s-tracks--1422267/support.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Conversations Lives. For morethan a decade, we've brought you the
best in books, entertainment, celebrityinterviews and kind events. When the movers
and shakers of the world have somethingto say to you, they say it
to us first. Here's your host, Cyrus Webb. Welcome back of a
one of the Conversation's live when wehave servis web. Glad you walll could

(00:23):
join us once again for radio audiencetuning in at WYAD ninety four point one
FM and WYAD online dot com.Are glad that you all can be with
us. Also sitting in an onlinearound the world thanks to our friends at
I Heart Radio on Amazon Music,We're glad you all could be with us
as well. This is part ofa new Zealand Youth segment here at WYD
and Today we're talking about the healththreat that is for use when it comes

(00:44):
to vaping. E cigarette use remainsa public health threat among youth and young
adults, but more than two millionmiddle and high schoolers currently using e cigarettes.
What can be done to address thisand what is out there to be
able to provide us resources for thosewho are looking to be to counter what
is the rising, of course threatof ease cigarettes here to talk to us
about the problem and also where youguys can go for more information. We're

(01:07):
excitedly welcome two great guests for ourprogram today. We have Amy Taylor,
the chief of Community Engagement at TruthInitiative, and we also have Laquisha Wilkins
joining us. Lacuisia is the assistantprincipal at Grim Middle School. Thanks for
the two of you for the timetoday. Really, they appreciate you stopping
by, Thanks for having us.Thank you well. Amy. I want
to start with you. I lovethe work that Truth Initiative does. We
see a lot of that here inmy home state of Mississippi when it comes

(01:30):
to commercials. But how did weget to a point that we are now
having a national youth vaping public healththreat? In seeing it spread the way
it has use this number in youropening, we were seeing more than two
point one million high school and middleschool students vaping. And what's further alarming

(01:51):
is that those young people who arevaping are vaping regularly, which shows the
shin signs of addiction. And whatyou know, how we got here is
because the vape companies are creating theseproducts and kid friendly flavors like grape and
cherry, and they have high levelsof a nicotine in them, so that

(02:13):
young people who are just experimenting maybebecoming addicted very quickly because these products have
so much nicotine in it. Theother issue that of concern is cannabis.
In the last two decades, we'veseen to nearly a two hundred and fifty
percent increase in the number of youngpeople who are using cannabis. And there's
so many myths out there about howcannabis affects young people, but what we

(02:39):
do know is that young people's developingbrain is susceptible to the dangers of these
products. Such an important thing foran audience to be able to be aware
of. So amy what resources areavailable for audience to educate young people not
only about the dangers of vaping nicotinebut also vaping cannabis. As you mentioned,

(03:00):
very excited about a free school basedcurriculum that's available to every school,
every student in the country. We'vealready educated more than a million young people
with this curriculum. Just this pastyear, we heard from teachers that we
not only needed to address e cigarettesand nicotine, but we needed to address

(03:23):
cannabis as well, to really empoweryoung people with the facts so that they
understand that using these products can havenegative impact on their mental and physical health.
Such a great thing. Look,weiha, I want to bring you
into the conversation, so glad thatyou could join us here today from Grim
Middle School. What has it beenlike for you to be able to see

(03:46):
the way that using the vapor knowthe Truth of curriculum has helped in your
school. Our school uses a makingOlder truth as part of our restorative practices
for those students who have been identifiedas based users the nicotineo cannabis. We
use it more than tool to educateand start the student discourse, to start

(04:06):
the discussion, to allow that transparencyabout their the hazard of vaping, because
it is important to not only stopthe behavior but also provide the knowledge as
to why. In the middle school, more so, they are really wanting
to know the why, and wetry to have that discussion and introduce more

(04:30):
healthy replacement behaviors. Also, alot of them have access where they're older
siblings or parents or someone else outsideof school, so it's the transfer of
knowledge. Once these students are providedthe knowledge from the vaping know the truth
course where they take it and becomechange agents themselves in deterring that behavior and

(04:56):
to communicate that hazard of using vapeproducts. Yeah, Lqusia, I want
to ask you when it comes tobeing in the schools or you find that
it really is a team effort.Now, of course that the parents,
I'm sure wanting to do their part, but also knowing that they have the
support of the school as well,and yet that has been one of the

(05:17):
major parts of it, just knowinga lot of their parents feel relieved to
know that the school is supporting them. Oftentimes parents don't know where to begin.
Our students are in those rebellious stageswhere everything your parents stay is the
wrong thing. But to hear itfrom not only your parents, but your

(05:39):
peers or the adults in the schooland also the adults in the schools being
vigilant in knowing the Finns. Oftentimesa lot of these things are taboo.
Either we don't want to acknowledge thatthey actually exist, but the reality is
they do. They exist, andif we are here to provide their education,

(06:00):
oftentimes we have to talk about thosethings that we don't want to discuss,
and the students are more apt,especially in middle school to talk about
them. Well, Puture, thankyou so much for the great work that
you're doing there at Grim Middle Schooland appreciate you being part of our conversation
today. And Amy really appreciate youstopping by as well to get our audience
and only of course informed about thatthe dangers that are out there when it

(06:24):
comes to this youth vaping public healththreat, but also where there is a
resource. So Amy, I wantto ask you, where can our audience
go to find out more information aboutthe resources that are available. Well,
you can go to vaping Know theTruth dot I mean you can go to
Truth Initiative dot com, backslash curriculumto get information on our free our free

(06:46):
program babing know the Truth all right, and we'll make sure that we link
that up for audience as well.Again, everyone, Amy Taylor, the
chief of Community Engagement the Truth Initiative, as well as Laqusha Welcomes, the
assistant principal at Grim Middle School,have been our guest talking with us of
course about help for those who aretrying to combat the use vaping public health
threat and where they can go forthis information. Thanks to the two of
you for the time, really appreciateit and looking forward to having you back

(07:09):
on the show. And we thinkyour audience are tuning in to another great
segment of Conversations Lives, part ofa music and youth segment here at WYAD.
And until next time, I'm yourhost, Syroswebt. Thinkers, always
enjoy your day, enjoy your life, and jury your world. Thank you
all for using conversations Lives. Thenlet's going to make today amazing. Take care,