The Benjamins
Community Relations Coordinator at Rosecrance Matt Quinn Speaks About Dangers of Vaping
“Vaping: It’s All About The Benjamins.”
This is how Matt Quinn, Community Relations Coordinator at Rosecrance, an addiction and mental health treatment center in Rockford, Ill., began his Morning Ex on Wednesday, March 4. Quinn spoke to grades six through 12 at a Morning Ex on the dangers of vaping and the marketing tactics of the electronic cigarette industry.
Quinn strongly emphasized that his presentation was meant to inform students about the dangers of vaping not to pass judgment on students. “This is not my attempt to make moral judgments or demonize a thing or make it seem like it’s a moral issue,” Quinn said. “It’s more about the potential harm, the potential consequences that come from it. That really is the big issue and why I want to present this information to you.”
Quinn first came to Parker in November when he spoke to a group of parents about marijuana and vaping. After positive feedback from parents, Upper School counselor Binita Donohue, who first invited Quinn to speak, proposed a Morning Ex to the Parker administration.
“When he came to the parent talk, the parents actually said, ‘Well, we’d like our kids to hear this, and so then both [Upper School Head] Justin Brandon and
[Intermediate and Middle School Head] John Novick, said, let’s see if he can come for an MX,” Donohue said.
At the Morning Ex, Quinn detailed how e-cigarette companies utilize marketing strategies to make their products appeal to a younger audience. “I just want to make sure you are aware that you are a target. Just be aware that marketing with the flavors and young, attractive people and all that kind of stuff, that you’re the target of that,” Quinn said. “So just be aware of that and what you decide to do, and don’t let it play on your subconscious.”
Quinn speaks frequently to both students and parents about addiction, giving one to two presentations each week. He spends the rest of his time working at Rosecrance as Community Relations Coordinator. Quinn has been counseling adolescents and adults for over 15 years and is a licensed clinical professional counselor and certified alcohol and drug counselor.
Quinn’s experience has led him to be aware of the reality of the addiction of vaping, but he says that he still hopes to at least deliver information to help inform the decisions of adolescents. “I don’t have any illusions that if there are students in there, especially 11th, 12th grade. I’m going to just get them to quit,” Quinn said, “because there’s a whole host of rationalizations or excuses that they’ve come up within their mind for why they still think it’s okay to continue to do it.” Though Quinn does say that he thinks providing information can prevent younger students from experimenting with e-cigarettes.
“I particularly like the idea of presenting that information to the younger kids that haven’t even tried it or the ones that have just started,” Quinn said. “My goal is for people to say it’s not worth it. That would be the ideal way that would play out when they take in that information.”
Many members of the community felt that while Quinn’s presentation was informative on the marketing aspects of the e-cigarette industry, it failed to make much impact on those currently vaping, or even the younger audience who has not vaped before.
Middle School counselor Reyna Smith felt that Quinn’s MX may have even failed to reach the younger audience it was aimed at. She fears that middle schoolers, especially seventh and eight graders, tend to take such presentations as a joke and make fun of them after. But, Smith said, “I think the same as a publicist. Publicists would say all publicity is good publicity. So even if you’re making fun of something we’re trying to teach and help, then I think … it’s still filling the air time.”
Sixth-grader Chase Wayland felt the MX did not land with his grade as it was intended. “It felt like the presenter was trying too hard to connect to us, so it didn’t work,” Wayland said. “The actual presentation was too scary and medical. ‘This kid got popcorn lung!’ I don’t want to learn about a child with popcorn lung.”
Wayland also said that he felt the presentation should have been split into two, one for intermediate and middle school, and one for high school.
Sophomore Evan Ehrhart said that he thought Quinn’s presentation was largely ineffective. “I just feel like I didn’t learn anything new, I’ve heard all of that before,” Ehrhart said. Ehrhart said that students already know vaping is “bad for them, but … are still going to do it no matter who tells them not to.”
An anonymous sophomore girl who said she used to vape nicotine but decided to stop due to its health risks appreciated Quinn’s fact-based presentation and found it informative. “I definitely had a horrible view going into it,” she said. “But I thought the MX was good because it was just the facts. It was presented in a really good way.”
“I used to vape. Then I frankly just realized how stupid it was and stopped. For me, at least, I can’t understand there being any benefit to vaping nic” she said, referring to nicotine. She then began vaping cannabis, until stopping recently. “I realized those have so, so, so many chemicals and pesticides,” she said. “But at the end of the day why I vaped weed was because weed at least gets you high, whereas nicotine is literally pointless.”
She also said that she thinks fewer students at Parker vape nicotine now and have moved to vaping marijuana, and those students who do vape would not have been swayed by Quinn’s presentation. “I only know people who vape weed and not vape nicotine. They are so stuck in their ways and think their way is the best and don’t want to hear what they could be doing is wrong.”
Donohue says that she recognizes the prevalence of vaping and understands that a single presentation can’t solve that, but it could have some small effect on the decisions of students. “I think when it comes to MX, it is about providing a message that students can wrestle with a little bit and I hope it gave you some food for thought. That’s the goal.”
There are no further plans for Morning Exes or continuations of the talk given by Quinn, though FCD Prevention Works, a Massachusetts “substance abuse prevention organization,” will continue to speak to 9th-grade health classes.
