The Teen Vaping Epidemic

By Leo Gentile ‘22

     Sniff, sniff, what's that smell in the air? It kind of smells like mint. Oh, it's just that 14 year old taking a hit from his E-cigarette-- that's definitely alarming. How is it possible that shop owners are allowed to sell such self destructive and harmful products like e-cigarettes to children and teenagers? 

Teens all across America are being lured into a nationwide epidemic called “vaping.” Vaping is a form of smoking electronically. According to healthychildren.org “JUUL devices are battery operated and work by heating a pod of e-liquid or “juice” that contains nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals. When heated, the liquid creates an aerosol or vapor that users inhale.” 

When asked about vaping, teenagers usually say it's better than smoking and its not addictive, however there's more to vaping than meets the eye. E-cigarettes have nicotine in them, “a highly addictive drug that contributes to heart disease” according to Scientific American. The truth is one JUUL pod actually has the same amount of nicotine as 20 conventional cigarettes. JUUL is the e-cigarette market dominator. “Nitrosamines and high levels of formaldehyde found in E-cigarettes are some of the main causes on lung disease and cancer making them more toxic than traditional cigarettes,” according to recent studies and research stated in Scientific American. In addition, vaping indoors is perhaps one of the most destructive things you could do to your body. Vapings ruins the air quality for yourself and other people by expelling concentrated nicotine and aluminum particles into the air which can cause cardiovascular disease and many forms of cancer. 

You may be asking yourself how on Earth are minors allowed to purchase these devices? The truth is frightening and quite simple, vaping is dangerous and addictive. The adolescent mind in very vulnerable to addiction. With high nicotine levels in E-cigarettes teens become easily addicted to vaping and as a result continue to buy E-cigarettes. This horrible epidemic, teen vaping, is a degenerate and psychotic way for companies to generate income. 

Shockingly, JUUL is currently valued at a whopping 16 billion dollars. The FDA has accused JUUL of luring teenagers with E-cigarettes, introducing nicotine to over 2.2 million adolescents in the past year alone, a 900% increase from 2011. On September 12, 2018 JUUL was mandated by the FDA to come up with solutions to enforce that their products are not being sold to minors. Hopefully, JUUL is banned from selling E-cigarettes to minors and this teen smoking epidemic will end. 

Being a teenager, I have seen the effects of vaping up close amongst my peers. I’ve seen how it can harm kids, getting them suspended from school and get them into major problems.Vaping is definitely an alternative of regular smoking and should only be used to help adult smokers quit. I hope that teenagers reading this will reconsider the next time they feel like taking a hit from their JUUL. Vaping is not cool, it’s not a toy, it’s very dangerous to your health. 

Sources: 

“E-Cigs and Second-Hand Vaping.” Scientific American, 27 Aug. 2018, www.scientificamerican.com/article/e-cigs-and-second-hand-vaping/.

Kaplan, Sheila, and Jan Hoffman. “F.D.A. Targets Vaping, Alarmed by Teenage Use.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/health/juul-fda-vaping-ecigarettes.html.

Korioth, Trisha. “Vaping: Dangerous, Available & Addicting.” HealthyChildren.org, www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/teen/substance-abuse/Pages/E-cigarettes.aspx.

Richtel, Matt, and Sheila Kaplan. “Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get 'Customers for Life'?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Aug. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/science/juul-vaping-teen-marketing.html.