Nicotine in Hidden Products

By Raze Ambassador, Kasey Thomas

There are many ways teens, and even adults, can hide nicotine in common products. ABC13 is one of the websites that had a statement that has become the truth of hiding nicotine in unknown, so that parents are unable to identify. The article says, "Kids can hide them in pockets, kids can hide them in backpacks," said Rania Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers of Houston. "They look like pens or other objects, and because they're so easy to get, fun to use, they're cool, they're addictive, you're seeing a sharp increase”. Vapes themselves before people could hide them were obvious to what they were, for example the shape or smell. People could see the smoke and automatically knew it was a vape. In 2022 there are new items made for vapes. They have changed their shape into squares, circles, etc. There are patches that people wear that are infused with nicotine. There are toothpicks, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Now kids are deciding to vape in school, they use pencils, erasers, pens, etc., to hide their nicotine, some are vaping, or some type of item infused with nicotine. But some students use vapes to hide in school, they hide it in their backpack or their pocket, they hide it in the bathroom. There are many kids at my school with vapes that you would never know what it was.

One thing that caught my attention about how nicotine is found in many products is food — yes food! There are all kinds of fruits and vegetables and even juice. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, even common vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, cauliflower, and eggplant contain some nicotine. Tobacco itself is a naturally occurring plant indigenous to America that is part of the nightshade family. These nightshade plants contain the nicotine alkaloid solanine, which is a natural insecticide. Vaping is the trend now and it is being spread in everyday items that we would never imagine would contain nicotine.