“You don’t have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.”

— John Ciardi, 1916-1986 American poet and editor

Sometimes the little details are more telling than the big ones. The anti-vaping initiative that the Seneca Valley School Board advanced this week serves as a good example.

Seneca Valley is applying for a $6,610 grant to discourage students from vaping, also known as e-cigarettes — the shiny new replacement for that dirty old vice known as cigarette smoking.

Jeff Roberts, the Seneca Valley supervisor of gifted education and student services, got the go-ahead from the school board to apply for a Vaping Prevention and Education Grant from Highmark. The money would buy six vaping and sound detectors for installation in the intermediate high school.

The big picture, of course, is that the school district opposes its students engaging in a habit that’s questionable, at best. The smaller picture is that Highmark — the health care insurer — is opposed, too.

But the specific question is why. What does Highmark know about vaping that would compel it to invest thousands of dollars in discouraging adolescents from picking up e-cigarettes?

E-cigs can be a useful tool for smokers attempting to quit, according to Johns Hopkins University and other health authorities. They say e-cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.

But they also advise that e-cigs are not harmless. “Nicotine is the primary agent in both regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and it is highly addictive. It causes you to crave a smoke and suffer withdrawal symptoms if you ignore the craving,” advises Johns Hopkins. “Nicotine is also a toxic substance. It raises your blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline, which increases your heart rate and the likelihood of having a heart attack.”

The adolescent brain is still growing, experts remind us. The prefrontal cortex, or PFC — the brain area responsible for executive decision-making and attention performance — is one of the last brain areas to mature and is still developing during adolescence. According to a 2012 study, exposure to nicotine during adolescence impedes PFC maturation and increases the risk of developing psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment in later life. Adolescent smokers suffer from attention deficits, which aggravate with the years of smoking.

The 2012 study exposed adolescent rodents to nicotine. They developed molecular changes that altered the functioning of synapses in the PFC and that underlie the lasting effects on cognitive function.

At the risk of building a house of cards on assumptions, Highmark is looking out for Highmark’s best interests — profitability — by providing optimum community health. Optimum health happens to be the objective of Seneca Valley and most of the rest of us.

And one final assumption: In coming years as data figures are collected and evaluated about e-cigarette use, and as we learn more about vaping’s benefits and risks, the increased knowledge will uphold the wisdom of Seneca Valley leaders making strides to discourage the practice among the student body.