District residents demonstrated this month concern about the rise of electronic cigarette use among teenagers and young adults after the recent $16 billion valuation of vaping company JUUL.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports cigarette usage among middle and high school students is dropping, electronic cigarette usage is up.
Products like JUUL deliver high doses of nicotine, which can harm brain development in teenagers, according to the CDC.
Joseph Grandison, 20, an American University student, says he first tried e-cigarettes at age 18 even though he acknowledges they contain potentially dangerous chemicals.
“We don’t know any better,” Grandison said.
The National Institute of Drug Abuse describes an electronic cigarette as a vessel that heats liquid containing nicotine. It combines the liquid with other chemicals that produce aerosol, which is inhaled by the user. Other chemicals in the aerosol include lead, volatile organic compounds and other cancer causing agents.
Companies also sell flavor pods in conjunction with e-cigarettes, which according to Contemporary Pediatrics makes them attractive to teenagers. Flavors include creme brulée, mint, butterscotch and grape.
Juul has become so popular among e-cigarette users that it warrants its own verb: “juuling.”
On Instagram, a search of #juul produces over 150,000 posts.
Emma Ayan, 17, who lives in New Jersey, vapes socially, saying she does it at parties. Of teenagers, Ayan said she thinks they “just get hooked real easily.”
Teenagers are acquiring vape pens despite age policies established by companies. JUUL’s policy states that customers must be 21 or older, while PHIX requires customers be of legal smoking age in their respective state.
Ayan noted her grandmother smoked cigarettes and now requires an oxygen tank, and said that her father is addicted to chewing tobacco. While vapes don’t use tobacco, they are delivering nicotine.
“It’s definitely addictive,” Ayan said.
Its website offers “a satisfying alternative to cigarettes.”
For young people like Ayan, it may offer that alternative, but research shows teenagers that have never smoked cigarettes but use e-cigarettes are more likely to take up cigarette smoking later, according to the American Journal of Medicine.
Diane Roznowski, 22, an American University graduate, has witnessed the growth in recent years.
Roznowski said her grandfather died of lung cancer when she was 4. She still has an aunt who smokes, and another who has quit and restarted multiple times.
While her experience involves tobacco usage, Roznowski noted vaping’s marketing targets younger people.
“You can’t argue it’s not for a child,” Roznowski said.