Truth Initiative Launches Updated Youth Prevention Curriculum to Combat Today’s Addiction Landscape

Vaping: Know the truth curriculum includes new lessons, videos, and content to address, e-cigarettes, oral nicotine pouches, cigarettes, cannabis and changing patterns of use

As students across the country head back to school, Truth Initiative today released an updated Vaping: Know the truth curriculum with new lessons, videos and content to combat today’s addiction landscape, including e-cigarettes, oral nicotine pouches, cigarettes, cannabis, and changing patterns of use. This free national youth nicotine prevention curriculum is designed for middle school and high school students and includes lessons to educate youth on these products and empower young people with refusal skills to help them navigate real-world situations.

With more than 1.8 million students active on the course since its initial launch in 2020, Vaping: Know the truth has become a trusted resource for educators working to prevent youth nicotine addiction and connect students with support to quit. The course uses a youth-centered, peer-to-peer voice and interactive digital format to provide facts about nicotine addiction, industry marketing tactics, health risks, and the benefits of living nicotine-free. The newly launched curriculum builds on prior offerings and now features new videos, a fresh design, and expanded content that reflects the vapes most popular with young people today, including the shift from earlier pod-based products like JUUL to the illegal, flavored disposable e-cigarettes that now dominate the market.

“Young people are facing a rapidly evolving addiction landscape, encountering a wide range substances in schools, online, and in popular culture,” said Kathy Crosby, CEO and President of Truth Initiative. “This refreshed curriculum meets that moment by giving educators and students clear, relevant, and engaging information about the full range of addiction risks facing young people today, along with the skills to recognize those risks, make informed choices, and seek support when they need it.”

Recent national data show both meaningful progress and ongoing concern regarding youth nicotine use. A federal study analyzing National Youth Tobacco Survey data found that current youth e-cigarette use has declined to its lowest level in nearly a decade. Yet e-cigarettes remain the top tobacco product used by youth, with 1.44 million middle and high school students reporting current use. Among students who vape, more than one in four use e-cigarettes daily and more than four in 10 use them at least 20 of the last 30 days.

This national data also show that many young people are using more than one tobacco or nicotine product with 740,000 young people reporting use of multiple tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and nicotine pouches. A recent Truth Initiative report similarly found that more than 45% of youth and nearly 53% of young adults who report past-month e-cigarette use also report using at least one additional tobacco product, including cigarettes, pouches, and cigars. 

Reflecting these changing patterns of youth nicotine use, oral nicotine pouches are a key focus of the updated curriculum. These products, including brands like Zyn, On!, and Velo, are among one of the fastest-growing segments of the nicotine market, with sales nearly quadrupling from $146 million to $539.5 million between January 2023 and December 2025. While data show that youth use of nicotine pouches remains low, their rapid growth raises concerns about future uptake, particularly as teachers are increasingly reporting seeing these products on school campuses.

The updated curriculum also addresses cigarettes amid renewed concerns about their cultural reemergence. After decades of progress reducing youth smoking, cigarettes are appearing in social media content, streaming entertainment, fashion, and celebrity imagery. This kind of exposure can make smoking appear more common, stylish, or socially acceptable, especially for young people who may not fully understand the health risks and addictive potential of nicotine.

Addiction risks also rarely occur in isolation. Behaviors like nicotine vaping, cannabis use, gaming, and gambling often overlap and reinforce one another, shaping how prevention and cessation strategies may need to evolve and be applied. Recognizing these needs, the curriculum also builds on lessons addressing cannabis use which were added in 2024. Cannabis and tobacco products are two of the most commonly used substances among U.S. youth, underscoring the importance of prevention resources that address nicotine, cannabis, and co-use together.

Vaping: Know the truth is made available to schools by Everfi^®, a leading provider of personal finance and essential life-skills education, as a free, self-guided digital learning experience that helps students understand the risks of vaping and nicotine use while connecting those who already use nicotine with resources to quit. The curriculum is designed to be a positive prevention and education resource, not a form of discipline. Through the curriculum, students already using nicotine can access EX Program by Truth Initiative, a free, evidence-based digital quit program developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic that provides personalized quit plans, interactive text messaging, and an online community to support people in quitting nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and oral nicotine pouches. Additional research also shows that EX Program can help young people who use nicotine quit both nicotine and cannabis.   

Truth Initiative research has shown that Vaping: Know the truth increases student knowledge about e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction. A study of more than 100,000 middle and high school students found that students who completed the digital course saw a 15% average increase in e-cigarette knowledge scores compared to before completing the course. 

“Educators are on the front lines, and they need resources that are current, proven effective, and easy to use,” Crosby said. “With updated lessons, new videos, and a fresh design, Vaping: Know the truth gives schools a free, engaging tool to help students understand the risks they are facing today and protect themselves from addiction. And for students who are already using nicotine, the curriculum helps connect them with free quitting support, so they know they do not have to do it alone.” 

The refreshed Vaping: Know the truth curriculum is now available for the 2026 school year. Learn more by visiting truthinitiative.org/vaping-curriculum. While the course is free, Truth Initiative also works with partners to sustain and grow course usage in their footprint. To learn more, contact [email protected].