By: Alisha Malhotra, Merijn Pluijmers
Vaping. A term that was unbeknownst to many has now become a casually thrown around phrase. The rise of vaping has skyrocketed in the past year, especially in high school communities. But why?
Defined as ‘the action or practice of inhaling and exhaling the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device,’ vaping has become an alarmingly common habit amongst youth. This popularity can be contributed, in part, to San Francisco based company Juul, who targeted consumers in their 20s and early 30s in an attempt to profit off those who typically did not have a history of smoking. Juul became so popular, in fact, that ‘juuling’ became its own verb, as high school students began buying and using the sleek, USB shaped devices more frequently. And yet, despite the intention of providing a supposedly safer alternative to smoking, there is simply not enough substantial research on the long-term health effects of vaping to prove that it won’t have the same, if not worse, consequences as regular smoking. There are facts that we do know for certain, however. Firstly: nicotine is a highly addictive substance. Secondly, there is a higher concentration of nicotine in the pod of a vaping device than a single cigarette. Finally, vaping has become increasingly prevalent amongst teenagers, due to its convenience, appealing nature of its flavours, and lack of dangerous connotations as opposed to smoking.
Convenience is possibly vaping’s most appealing feature. Due to the slim nature of the device, it can be kept in trouser pockets, or slipped discreetly into a student’s waistband. A recent study by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 27.5% of American high school students and 10.5% of middle school students claim to have used a juuling device in a single month.
This raging epidemic is one that has expanded across the globe - and despite attempts such as Trump banning the selling of flavoured juul pods, it shows no signs of stopping.
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