My kids and I have an open and honest relationship (Picture: Kellie Whitehead)
‘Give me some – I’ll try it too,’ I told my 17-year-old son, James, last month.
I took a nicotine pouch, otherwise known as snus, from a small tin.
‘You put it on your gums, under your lip, apparently’, he told me and we both did it at the same time.
Within seconds James went white as a sheet and had to sit down. Head bowed, he soon locked himself in the loo, convinced he needed to vomit.
A few minutes later, I was the same – dizzy and nauseous.
I hadn’t even heard of snus but I certainly have now, and if you’re a parent, you need to know about it too.
Some schools have resorted to sending out warnings to parents, worried about its rising use among pupils.
Confusingly, ‘snus’ refers to two different products. The first – and not the one James and I used – is a form of smokeless tobacco popular in Nordic countries that involves placing some of the substance or a dissolvable paper pouch in the mouth. This is illegal to buy or sell in the UK.
But there’s also nicotine pouches, which while used in the same way, contain no tobacco. Although different, they’re being referred to as ‘snus’ by their users.
James, a vaper, tells me he found out about snus on social media (Picture: Kellie Whitehead)
These, due to a legal loophole, are able to be sold to under-18s – even if some products themselves say they are 18+. This means they are becoming a popular alternative for underage vapers who want to get their hands on nicotine, even if ministers plan to ban their use by youths.
James, a vaper, tells me he found out about snus on social media, and it is increasingly popular among top footballers – with one in five professional male players using snus, nicotine pouches, or both. Nearly half of them would like to quit using the products.
When James told me about snus, I initially thought he meant ‘snuff’, a form of sniffing tobacco I recall being popular with older men in the 80s.
After he clarified, and he insisted it was better than continuing to vape, I told him that I didn’t believe the product existed.
But soon enough, he had bought some from eBay – and that is when I decided to try it, too.
No, I am not in the habit of consuming noxious substances with my kids – far from it.
But we have an open and honest relationship, and I rarely have concerns about the behaviour of James, or my older son, Charlie, who is 18.
Both of them, however, are vapers, and as a nicotine user since I was 16, smoking for years before turning to vapes, I feel like I don’t have much of a moral high ground to occupy when I tell them not to.
No, I am not in the habit of consuming noxious substances with my kids (Picture: Kellie Whitehead)
I wanted to try it with James to find out whether it was safe for him to take, to be able to relate to him if I did object, and to discourage him from keeping his nicotine habits secret from me.
I don’t see the point of being in denial about my teens using vapes or other products, but I want to make sure they have all the necessary information and that they’re as safe as can be.
I’ve told my kids not to buy disposables, but it doesn’t stop them – and it isn’t just our family.
There is barely a teenager we know who doesn’t vape – and I know it’s a huge issue in schools, with one doctor estimating usage of vaping could be as high as 15%.
There are a lot of reasons kids get into various nicotine products, but I blame TikTok for my family’s foray into snus after James saw a number of videos of people using the products.
I honestly felt that it was another fad, so on that day in December I knew that if he was trying it I wanted to know what it was, too.
The tin was round and brightly coloured, with a funky font I felt was designed to grab the attention of young people.
Details and instructions were sparse, and the ‘pods’ were like chewing gum wrapped in dissolvable paper. They didn’t smell. We went for it.
Of course, we agreed to bin the things very swiftly after popping them under our gums and being hit with the wave of sickness that hit us.
I was staggered at how strong this snus was, and I knew that if it had this effect on me, a long-time nicotine user, there was no way it was suitable for teenagers – whatever the strength.
Afterwards, James and I both felt terrible. I thought we were on the same page in terms of getting rid of it, but I forgot how stubborn teenagers can be.
Around 36 hours later, when I was heading to bed, I heard a weak cry of ‘Mum’ from the next room. I arrived into James’ bedroom too late, he had been sick all over his bed and self.
Take it from me, snus is the last thing you want your children near (Picture: Kellie Whitehead)
Only James knows why he tried it again, but to me it reinforces how dangerous it is buying any product like this online, and the startling impact it can have on teenagers, and even seasoned nicotine users like me.
We didn’t know how strong it was, and I found it hard to tell the strength from the packaging.
I was truly annoyed at James trying it again, he’s not stupid and had felt really ill prior.
Only teenagers know why they do what they do, but it made me fearful about what other kinds of products are out there, easily available for children. I worried how easily it would be able for them to stumble into pouches of a higher strength, considering how I, an adult, would struggle to tell them apart.
It’s fair to say that James did see sense after the second ‘try’ and binned his stash immediately.
I later found out his friends had had similarly grim experiences, and they all seem to have given up on snus for now.
The impact of social media is spilling onto the streets too, my older son has been stopped in public on the high street by marketeers in branded outfits offering him a pouch in exchange for taking a snap for their Instagram.
My son’s experience with snus, and how easily he bought it, was a real wake up call, showing me what is out there and the effects products can have on young people.
Vaping is one thing, but I’m aghast at how easy it was for my son to track down this nicotine alternative, and my warning is not just to teenagers but to parents, too.
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