by Paige Horlacher, Hayley Pallin, and Andie Slack 

Vaping is becoming a bigger and bigger issue, especially with teens.

Teen vaping is on the rise and a lot of people are being affected by it.

“Teen vaping has increased from 1.5% to 11.3% from 2011 to 2016, those rates are higher now,” Melissa Pallin, a therapist from North Bend Medical Center in North Bend, Oregon said. 

The one question is, when do most start? The average age is 13, and continues from that age up. They continue because of the addiction of nicotine and other unknown chemicals.

”Hospitals have a hard time treating [issues related to vaping] because they don’t know what caused it”  Mrs. Pallin said.

The more teens vape, the more damage they are causing to their lungs. Some teens continue because of peer pressure or they see their parents are doing it.

“The more parents do it, the more likely the teens will get into it,”Pallin said.

As more teens do it and grow into adults, the more the new generation will do it. 

When asking Mellissa Pallin why they continue to do it she said ”If you are doing it a lot it can change your mood to angry when not vaping but when you are, it’ll make you feel better.” 

Seeking relief from stress is another reason kids continue vaping even if they know it isn’t good for them. 

In an article by Pepper et al in the American Journal of Health Promotion ways teens access to vaping devices is discussed. 

Most adolescents; 78.2% of them, own a vaping device. The most common source to buy them from is a store or online; 31.1% of them, if you buy from another person it's 16.3% or giving some money to purchase for them 15.0%. The majority 72.8% had used someone else’s vaping device in the past 30 days.

It is easy for teens to get vapes like from parents, friends, and family members. Teens vape in school bathrooms at home and any places. They’re also readily available on sites like Amazon.

As we move into a new world with new information, we can start to see how bad vaping is, especially with teens.

People say it helps you quit cigarettes but when you smoke a cigarette it takes 3-5 minutes. But when you vape the smoke can stay in your lungs for up to 20 minutes, Pallin said.

A step into the future to help this problem would be to talk to your teens and tell them how bad it is for them. 

“The younger you start the easier it is to get addicted and that's what the sellers want”, Pallin said.

Something we could all do to help this situation is help the teens that want to stop vaping. There are organizations out there to help such as Quit the Hit or This is Quitting.

Photo credit: Ecig Click, under Creative Commons license