Vaping and e-cigarettes have become the newest and most pervasive teen addiction, sometimes beginning as early as middle school. It’s easy to see why with fun flavors, evolving dispensers, and social media challenges of taking hits in class; it seems more like a harmless toy rather than a dangerous addiction. Vaping damages lungs and is an extremely tough habit to kick. It affects sports performance, agitation levels, it’s illegal in Natrona County for anyone under the age of 21, and long-term impacts are unclear since it’s relatively new. But one thing is certain: vaping is a serious problem for Casper teens.
If you were trying to overcome alcoholism, you wouldn’t quit drinking hard alcohol but continue having beer, would you? But that’s the logic with smoking and vaping. James Monsees and Adam Bowen created Juul to end their addiction to cigarettes in 2004, but nearly two decades later, they found themselves testifying in front of Congress for their company’s role in underage vaping where Monsees said, “We never wanted any non-nicotine user, and certainly nobody underage, to ever use Juul products.” Of course, neither has been the reality.
Despite commercial positioning as a healthier alternative to smoking combustible cigarettes, vaping is harmful and one study even found that vaping is actually more addictive than smoking. Though e-cigarettes don’t have some of the cancer-causing chemicals contained in regular cigarettes, the aerosol from vape devices has not been proven safe. Studies have linked vaping with lead and other harmful compounds, and the currently unknown long-term effects are seriously concerning to health experts.
Bottom line? We all know cigarettes are bad, but we’re just getting a glimpse into how harmful vaping really can be. It might just be eye for eye, lung for lung.
Learn how and why other teens have quit, then when you’re ready, get a free, customizable plan on how you can quit vaping for good. This is your call – we’re just here to help.