Disruptive Action

Story Synopsis

Falling victim to the dangers of nicotine is not a difficult task for a young adolescent. Kenneth and I have both seen fellow classmates become addicted to nicotine due to the easily accessible supply of vape products in our surrounding communities. Matt Murphy, the victim in our story, has experienced nothing many other high school students have. The difference, however, is that he was able to get clean, eventually.

Because Matt was able to continuously vape for over a year straight, he became addicted to nicotine. Every hour or so he would need more for his mind and body to function somewhat normally. Jonathan had a reliable and consistent source of e-liquid, despite being under the age of 21. This allowed him to quickly become addicted, and stay addicted. With such weak regulations put in place in order to prevent the sale and illegal use of such devices, Matt and many others across the country have themselves emptying their wallets to feed their addiction.

Why is finding a solution important you may ask? You can't give enough money to defeat this underlying issue. Teenage nicotine addiction is rapidly growing. Every year we see an increase in numbers regarding the use of e-cigarettes. Donating to rehabilitation programs will not solve this issue. It is important that government regulations are put in place to prevent the sale of nicotine products to young adolescents.

Design Process

In order to find our root problem, we backtracked 5 steps. We asked ourselves

What is the issue our person is dealing with?

Matt Murphy is suffering from his underage nicotine addiction.

1. What is causing that?

His Juul, which contains an extremely high concentration of nicotine. This substance is able to make its users addicted quicker than usual using a chemical known as benzoic acid.

2. What is causing that?

E-Cigarette companies such as Juul and Suorin have added high doses of addictive chemicals to the e-liquid.

3. What is causing that?

The frequency of usage of the vaping devices has led to an increase in nicotine concentration in leading brands selling e-cigarettes and juice.

4. What is causing that?

There is an epidemic of underage/teenage vaping spread across the country.

5. What is causing that?

The poor restrictions put in place by the government in order to stop the production and sale of addictive chemicals to minors.

The Solution

Kenneth and I decided that in order to eliminate the problem as effectively as possible, we would have to prevent the temptation and convenience of buying such nicotine products. Therefore, our solution would be to ban the sale of nicotine products near common teenager-frequented areas such as the mall, near schools, or even local parks.

In practice, we would hope to severely reduce the sale of nicotine products to minors. This would directly counteract the injustice brought to question on our ethical mandate page. Banning the sale of nicotine in teenager-frequented areas would be an example of stopping advertisement to the adolescent population.

We are excited to present our disruptive solution because not only would it be particularly effective, but it could also be very simple to put into play and incorporate into the government. Although some large nicotine companies would battle the passing of this law, it should be able to get the support of both parties considering the two major political parties' stances on the opioid epidemic.

Our prototype, pictured below, is an app designed to help those old enough to purchase nicotine products do so in a legal manner.

The app is pretty simple. Essentially it is a map that allows you to find places to both purchase and use nicotine products in a safe and secluded way so that teenagers have a lower risk of being influenced by these harmful devices.

PROTOTYPE VIDEO

In order to sign the petition to ban vaping devices in the United States, click here. (IMMEDIATE ACTION)