Aaron Cluff

Professor Olabajo Dada

English 111

August 30, 2017

E cigarettes are more popular among teens than cigarettes

The first time I ever saw extensive use of electronic cigarettes and vapes was my junior

year of high school. It was in between class changes and I wandered into the restroom. I had

recently purchased a cheap e cigarette called a Vuse, and was ready to smoke before my next

class. I walked in and immediately saw four of my peers already smoking their devices. They

looked up scared for a split second, then a smile crept on their faces when I showed them my

intentions. The scene continued before everyone scattered when the minute bell came on, but

everyone knew it would resume in exactly 45 minutes. This scene is being repeated among

hundreds of high schools in every state, whether the rules permit it or not.

Smoking electronic cigarettes is a rising trend throughout the last few years. Gary Wisby

in an article for UIC found in a federal report that one out of ten high schoolers smoke

e-cigarettes. Equally surprising, the same report found that three percent of middle schoolers

smoke these device. Despite the age restriction that is placed on being able to purchase these

alternatives to smoking.

Teenagers and adults have convinced themselves that these recently new ways of nicotine

consumption is healthier than the old way. Much research is going into it to see if this is truly the

case. What cannot be disputed, however is that they have overtaken cigarettes in popularity.

Researching and polling has shown the number of cigarette smoking has decreased a significant
amount. Nowadays, four out of five kids do not actually smoke cigarettes, a huge drop

considering those numbers were higher years ago. However, the numbers for e cigarette smokers

tell a different story.

According to the Centers for Disease control and prevention, more than a quarter of a

million teenagers who never smoked or used traditional tobacco products have used e cigs with

regularity. The number of E cig users in 2011 was around 80,000 individuals. Nowadays, that

number is well over 250,000, and that is just for high school students.

There are a couple of factors that can be attributed to this. While much of the decrease of

smoking and dipping tobacco products among teens can be traced to the initiatives started by the

government. Starting in 1998, when the federal government raised the smoking age to 18, and in

some states, 21, that is when smoking traditional cigarettes started to decline. At the same time,

nationwide efforts to educate young people on the harms of tobacco use all started to lead to

fewer young people smoking and using tobacco products.

While cigarettes became less desirable and much less accessible, the wave of e cigarettes

was met with initial confusion. Many educators and lawmakers did not know what to make of

the new alternative to smoking cigarettes. The initial advertisements proclaimed the new way of

nicotine consumption as safe, and helping smokers quit by using their products. While all of

these new devices started to come out, many teenagers who for years had been told how bad

cigarettes were, found themselves a new way to stick out and look rebellious without the harm

that traditional tobacco would do to their body.

Making matters worse for concerned parents, teachers and lawmakers was the easy

accessibility for young people to attain these. While other older forms of tobacco were not
allowed or available to be sold on the internet, electronic cigarettes were shockingly easy for

teenagers to buy online, without their age being checked. This continued until 2017, when finally

a age limit for buying these products was placed on it.

For all the education that students receive towards tobacco use, they did not get for

electronic cigarettes. The biggest problem there is that many do not know what the actual harms

are that vaping causes. Therefore, many teens are not afraid of vaping, since its supposedly

better for you than traditional cigarettes. Due to the lack of evidence of vaping health effects, the

stigma surrounding them is quite different. E cig companies state proudly how users don't smell

after use, and the appeal of that alone drives teenagers to do something to make them stand out.

The trend of e cigarettes and vaping products does not give the appearance of tapering off

anytime soon. While the federal government attempts to make it harder for teens and preteens to

get e cigs, the popularity will only get stronger. This is shown by the e cig company Juul, as you

must be 21 years old to purchase their devices online. Time will tell how powerful this new trend

will get, and if the unknown health effects will wreck havoc on the generation who finds them

most appealing.
 Citations

Collins, Francis. Are E Cigarettes leading more kids to smoke, Nih director's blog,

January 31st, 2017,

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2017/01/31/are-e-cigarettes-leading-more-kids-to-smoke/

Accesed September 6th, 2017

(N,A) More than a quarter-million youth who had never smoked a cigarette used

e-cigarettes in 2013,Centers for disease control and prevention, August 24th, 2017,

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0825-e-cigarettes.html Accesed September

6th, 2017

Wisby, Gary. Why are e cigs so popular, UIC today, November 3rd, 2015,

https://today.uic.edu/scientist-explores-e-cig-popularity Accesed September 6th, 2017