Outbreak of Vaping Illnesses Spreads Throughout the Country

Teenagers today know the Juul to be the “safer alternative to cigarettes.” However, recent reports have brought to light the important question of whether this smoking device is truly as safe as it is advertised. 

Juuls are a type of handheld e-cigarette that looks much like a USB flash drive. These devices are very easy to hide, as they can be covered by the palm of a hand and do not give off much vapor or odor. There are no settings to adjust a Juul, making it very accessible and easy to use. They require Juul pod cartridges that contain nicotine, and as the Juul is put to use, the liquid is heated into a vapor that is inhaled by the user. 

In August 2019, an 18-year-old heavy Juul user was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a collapsed lung after claiming to struggle to fall asleep because of sharp pains on his left side. Surgeons found a small hole in his left lung, along with black dots on the surface of each lung. According to doctors, these mysterious black dots could take years to heal, and may never even disappear. “I’ve never smoked cigarettes – it’s the Juul,” explained the victim Chance Ammirata in an interview. The teenager claims he will never smoke again after this horrific experience.

Unfortunately, Ammirata is not the only one to experience severe consequences from Juuling. As of September 3, 2019, there have been 215 cases of respiratory illness from vaping. Symptoms range from coughing, chest pain, and difficulty breathing, to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fevers. In extreme cases, users have ended up in intensive care units on oxygen support. By September 10, there had been a total of six deaths reported due to this mysterious disease.

Even with all of this evidence of the consequences, the majority of teenagers that Juul today are not quitting. In fact, e-cigarette usage among middle school students has increased from 0.6% in 2017 to 4.9% in 2018, and the number increased from 11.7% in 2017 to 20.8% in 2018 among high school students. Unfortunately, these numbers are only climbing. The number of high school seniors who have vaped in the past 30 days has almost doubled since 2017, rising from 11% to 21%. More teenagers today are utilizing Juuls and other vaping products than ever before.

Many believe that a Juul contains a smaller nicotine dosage than a cigarette and is therefore much safer to use. However, one Juul pod contains 20 cigarettes worth of nicotine. As teenagers today are mostly uninformed of this information, they will run through many pods, unaware of the amount of nicotine that they are vaping. Juul uses “nicotine salts,” a substance that resembles the structure of natural nicotine found in tobacco plants. This structure allows the nicotine to be more easily absorbed and makes the vapor less harsh so that it is easier to inhale more vapor for a longer period of time. The UK Royal College of Psychiatrists conducted a study that showed that nicotine is almost as addictive as cocaine and more addictive than alcohol, another piece of information that many students are unaware of.

Although the Juul is a fairly new e-cigarette device, new research on its effects come out every day. As the teenage population is affected by these devices, it is vital that they understand the consequences of vaping to better their decision making.