Dr. Leticia Orozco, new Coordinator
of Substance Misuse Prevention & Wellness Education, will manage the programming proposed in the Underage Nicotine Prevention Program Grant.

College life can be stressful, and some students use nicotine as a way to cope. While the use of cigarettes is down sharply on college campuses, vaping has increased and nicotine pouches have become more popular. The trend is growing with the backing of advertising that pitches nicotine as a way to relax.

WestConn’s Health Services department is punching back with the help of a $10,000 grant from the Western Connecticut Coalition to educate college students on the dangers associated with nicotine.

Dr. Michelle Young, director of Health Services, applied for the grant. Dr. Leticia Orozco, the new Coordinator of Substance Misuse Prevention & Wellness Education, will manage the programming proposed in the Underage Nicotine Prevention Program Grant.

WestConn has been a tobacco- and vape-free campus since 2023, and only about 3% of college students nationwide report smoking cigarettes or using other tobacco-based products.

Young said students increasingly report that they have “quit vaping” by switching to pouches, which are widely — and incorrectly — perceived as a safer alternative because they are not inhaled. Compounding the problem, nicotine pouches are heavily marketed on social media as “bio-hacks” or “focus enhancing,” messaging that resonates with first-year students and upper classmen adjusting to new and increasing academic demands.

Over the next year, Orozco will fill this knowledge and support gap by providing targeted prevention programming for incoming first-year students, while remaining accessible to all students. The program will provide our campus with the ability to provide education, prevention, and awareness of the dangers of nicotine use, debunk myths, and provide students with cessation support and Quit and Wellness Kits. We will collect data from focus groups that will support local and national systems that provide prevention and education and launch an online platform that is fully accessible for all students.

The project will include creation of a WestConn-specific handout promoting the Substance Misuse Prevention Program, counseling services, and Connecticut-based cessation resources. These materials are intended to increase student awareness of available support and ensure that every student has quick access to evidence-based quitting tools.

To provide alternatives to nicotine use and build community, the program will host nicotine-free social activities such as a campus game night, as well as engage with students at interactive “pop-up” booths featuring activities such as “guess the chemical”

games and nicotine myth-busting stations. Quit and Wellness kits will be distributed which include, cessation information, educational resources, stress balls, aromatherapy items, and fidget tools). These events and activities are designed to reduce stress—one of the leading drivers of nicotine use — while offering positive, health-promoting experiences.

Prevention education will also be integrated into University 101 courses, which all first-year students must attend and a new online WellSort Platform will be available for all students to explore and use.

“We can effectively address both the challenges that college students face and at the same time let them know about healthier ways to reduce stress, without choosing nicotine and other drugs,” Orozco said. “We expect this to make a big difference over the next year, and we can’t wait to get started.”

Funding for this project was provided through Connecticut Juul Settlement Funds awarded by the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) through Western CT Coalition.