🧒 The danger of young people starting nicotine as "mental self-care"
The quiet danger of young people picking up nicotine as "mental self-care."
What's frightening about nicotine use among young people isn't only the old entry point of "smoking because it looks cool."
These days it starts much more quietly.
You want to calm down when you're tired. You want something to fill the gaps when you're with people. You want to switch your mood. If it's a vape or heated tobacco rather than a cigarette, it feels lighter somehow.
They don't want to become dependent. If anything, they start using it as a small tool for regulating how they feel.
Nicotine arrives as "something that settles you"
At a glance, this entry point doesn't look serious.