[Archived] City of Alexandria Launches Vaping Prevention Campaign to Encourage Youth to Stay Substance-Free

­­For Immediate Release: January 11, 2021

The City of Alexandria, in collaboration with the Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Alexandria (SAPCA), has launched a vaping prevention social media campaign featuring six short videos created by Alexandria teens to raise awareness of the dangers of e-cigarette use and encourage youth to stay substance-free.

The videos, created by T.C. Williams High School students, feature Alexandria youth sharing the reasons why they do not vape. The vaping prevention campaign invites social media followers to share the videos, along with the reasons they themselves do not vape. 

“E-cigarette” is an umbrella term for a variety of devices, including vape pens, that produce an inhalable aerosol containing thousands of harmful chemicals. Many e-cigarettes also contain nicotine, the addictive substance found in tobacco products.

Most Alexandria teens are not using e-cigarettes. A Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that in 2016, only 7.5% of 10th graders and 6% of eighth graders reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. The vaping prevention campaign aims to keep that figure low because youth who reach the age of 18 without smoking are three times less likely to ever start.

Parents and other caring adults can visit alexandriava.gov/SAPCA to access free resources and information on how to talk with youth about the risks of e-cigarette use and how to support them in quitting use of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.  

For inquiries from the news media only, contact Andrea Blackford, Senior Communications Officer, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.