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Underaged Vaping is Growing Amongst Middle and High Schoolers Underaged Vaping Growing Amongst Middle and High Schoolers

By Adrianne Morales

e-cigarette and pods
© 2019 Adrianne Morales

(ANC)

The Food and Drug Administration says e-cigarette use increased by 78 percent among high school students and 48 percent among middle schoolers between 2017 and 2018. N-C-C News reporter Adrianne Morales investigates why this is so popular among students and the effects in can have on both their health and their lives.

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Ex- FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gotleeb says cartridge flavors like mint, mango, and creme brûlée play an important role in driving the youth appeal for vaping. A grandmother of a high school student agrees. She believes there are not enough resources nationwide to educate kids on the effects of e-cigarettes. Nhora Martinez has ideas of what the government can do to help.

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17- year-old Brianna Balmaceda thinks people her age smoke e-cigarettes because older friends and family give it to them.

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Martinez agrees.

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A survey conducted by the FDA found that the majority of vape users are within the ages of 12 and 17 years old. Briana Trujillo, a 14-year-old freshman in high school says it’s fairly easy to get these products.

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Yasnei Llavore, Balmaceda’s 20-year-old cousin says that she somewhat blames herself for her cousin’s e-cigarette addiction.

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Llavore gives Balmaceda and her friends Juul pods, the cartridge that holds the nicotine inside an e-cigarette. Each Juul pod contains approximately five percent nicotine according to the packaging. Most popular e-cigarettes contain between one and two percent, making Juuls one of the e-cigarettes with the highest nicotine content. Respiratory therapist Audrey Miranda says kids should be worried about the health effects of vaping.

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Even though underage smoking is illegal, Balmaceda is not worried about law enforcement.

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Just like Balmaceda, Llavore is not worried about law enforcement. She has never been carded when buying Juul pods for herself or her cousin.

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Miranda says nicotine has serious systemic side effects apart from also being highly addictive.

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Trujillo learned the consequences and quit.

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Even with knowing the negative health effects, many students like Balmaceda still don’t want to quit.

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Miranda says the nicotine within the e-cigarettes can classify them as a “gateway drug.”

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Martinez thinks that once kids get addicted to nicotine, there is no limit to the drugs they will try.

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Llavore says she has friends that do both, but others that only do one.

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Llavore is divided between whether or not she sees e-cigarettes as a gateway quote-on- quote drug for the youth.

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Martinez fears for the future of her grandchild, Balmaceda, and feels that she has failed to warn the kids in her family of addiction.

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Adrianne Morales, N-C-C News.

By Adrianne Morales SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Middle and high school students are finding ways to get a hold of e-cigarettes illegally. With the legal smoking age in New York state being 21, the underaged are working their way around the law.

There are many ways in which kids are getting these products. “It’s basically the same thing as kids in college that have fake IDs,” says 19-year-old college student Yasnei Llavore. “I have some friends and family members that are under the legal age. However, I can easily just buy vape juice or pods from the gas station or the store and just give it to them.”

A junior in high school that gets products from Llavore says she started vaping because she wanted to try tricks with the smoke. “It is also a trend that teenagers are into,” says 17-year-old Brianna Balmaceda. “Everyone knows what they’re getting themselves into and the consequences; like being addicted.”

Balmaceda’s grandmother says she is worried that this could be a gateway to other drugs for her granddaughter. “This could be just the beginning. She could start using the real thing. She could start smoking, and that may cause even more problems,” says 58-year-old Nhora Martinez.

A respiratory therapist says that e-cigarettes could be considered a gateway ‘drug.’ “I believe that yes eventually it could take you to any other drugs, because if this is a drug and it’s affecting the brain and it’s telling the brain that why not. You need more and more to feel good. So yes, it could lead to other addictions,” says respiratory therapist Audrey Miranda.

In efforts to reduce underaged e-cigarette usage, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a policy as of March to limit the stores in which e-cigarettes and their flavored products are sold. It specifically targets flavors like bubblegum or fruit that may seem to target the youth, but excludes tobacco, menthol, and mint flavored products.

 

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