Say No To Vaping: Calvert County Hopes To Spread The Word With New YouTube Video

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — Calvert County is taking aim at vaping, hoping to spread the word to young people to help them stop vaping or reconsider starting at all.

The video, “Seeing Through the Mist: The Non-Consenting Vape Experiment,” was released on YouTube on Jan. 7 after a promotional campaign on YouTube and social media.

County officials and school board members have targeted vaping as a main health concern for middle and high school students, debating vape detectors in schools in February and offering a free presentation on vaping last May.

“Seeing Through the Mist” was a filmed conversation between County Commissioner Catherine Grasso and Rebecca Sayre, the tobacco cessation and prevention coordinator at the Calvert County Department of Health.

Sayre and Grasso discussed how vaping differs (and doesn’t) from smoking tobacco. Sayre emphasized that lung development isn’t complete until age 25, which makes using nicotine products during the teenage years especially unhealthy.

Sayre also said many students are not aware that vaping even has nicotine, and many think they’re simply inhaling flavored water. But Sayre said that it’s more akin to inhaling hairspray, and vape products can contain chemicals like formaldehyde.

She also added that 99% of vape products that are marketed as “nicotine-free” do in fact contain nicotine.

“The vape companies are doing this big experiment. They’re using these kids as guinea pigs,” Sayre said, and the long-term side effects are likely to be with vape users for the rest of their lives.

Grasso and Sayre also discussed how many vape products are small, easy to hide, and are intentionally marketed to young people — despite the fact that people must be 21 to buy vape products. A 2024 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 1.63 million middle and high school students in the United States used e-cigarettes.

Watch the full video below.

---