[Une prof en France] The Puff phenomenon in middle and high schools

Every week, students from my school are excluded for having sold (or bought) a puff on the school grounds. Perhaps you missed the puff phenomenon? It is a pre-filled and pre-set electronic cigarette, with bright and tangy colors, fruity and recreational flavors, programmed to be thrown away after 300 to 600 puffs. The nicotine level varies between 0 and 2%, if you obtain your supplies in France, and can go even higher if you go through American sites, the concentrations most sold in the United States being around 5 or 6%. Obtaining it is childishly easy: it is sold everywhere and costs little, and even if this sale is in theory prohibited to under-18s, the proliferation of puffs in the hands of our students proves that tobacconists, like vaping specialists, are not careful. In any case, they are found everywhere on the Internet or on Instagram, and you just have to enter a false date of birth to pass the preventive barriers and access the sites.

The adults see nothing but fire…

During a school trip, I spoke with some of my 4 year old students^e and they told me that it was their parents who bought them for them. These parents may think they are keeping them away from tobacco consumption when all the studies prove the opposite and attest that these fun electronic cigarettes are predictive in terms of tobacco consumption. But it’s festive, and then it’s fashion! They are everywhere, everywhere, and especially on social networks where influencers are paid to promote them and where other gogos participate voluntarily in this massive propagation movement. Some sites even extol the merits of nicotine for weight loss, nicotine found in puff with a sweet strawberry aroma, much less repulsive than a good old smell of cold tobacco. My high school daughter told me that her friends take a few drags each between classes: it’s quick, it comes out of the bag in two seconds, it doesn’t need any heating time and leaves a vague candy smell in the air. , mango or fresh mint. Adults see nothing but fire and adolescents gorge themselves on nicotine throughout the day. The latest addition, the “9K”, contains 9,000 puffs, the equivalent of 18 packs of cigarettes.

France is considering banning it. Well, not really. It’s “at the same time”. We want to ban it, but only next year… Time to sell off stocks? The deputies have just discovered that it is very, very bad. One might wonder why they had not inquired before authorizing the marketing of such a product, given that we had had information from the United States for a while. But they waited “to see”. We saw. Now they say “stop”, firmly! They will protect our children! This all has to stop! Our representatives therefore voted in February, unanimously in both chambers, for a law to prohibit the sale of puffs in France. Two months later, what ? Well, not much, because they are waiting for validation by the European Commission. We wonder why we are still wasting time and energy passing laws that have no value without the blessing of Europe, which we can imagine will hesitate to close the door to such a lucrative market.

It is therefore a safe bet that the shimmering colors of the puffs will continue to brighten up playtime and school outings for a long time to come.

Illustration: screenshot JT TF1

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