Washington Department of Health Releases App to Combat Vaping Addiction

Washington State Department of Health recently announced the launch of a new smartphone app, '2morrow Health', targeting teenagers and young adults to aid curbing their vaping addiction. The app is free for Washingtonians and is accessible via smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop computer.

"It uses an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) model of essentially help people quit vaping," said Nick Fradkin, tobacco cessation consultant.

According to Fradkin, ACT is an offshoot of cognitive behavioral therapy which is often traditionally used in helping individuals shake their smoking and tobacco habits.

"It teaches the user how to recognize urges (to vape or nicotine cravings) and sit with them. Then they actually track the urges and see that progress over time, showing how many urges they have allowed to pass," said Fradkin. "It's a way for teens and young adults to see their progress on a smartphone app."

The department of health has been working on the development on the app with 2Morrow Inc. for a year. 2Morrow Inc. had previously put together a similar smoking and tobacco cessation app and, according to Fradkin, managed to reach a large number of people, especially younger generations.

"We saw the app as an opportunity to repurpose it to help teens and young adults quit vaping," said Fradkin. "At the Department of Health we feel quite obligated to help these teens and young adults get rid of their nicotine addiction in whatever way will work for them. We feel a smartphone app is a great way to do that."

This is just on the heels of Governor Jay Inslee's executive order to ban all flavored vaping products along with the influx of vaping related hospitalizations. In 2018, 30% of high school seniors were using vaping products and recently the FDA announced this is an epidemic.