Over the years, the use of electronic cigarettes has become popular. The electronic cigarettes, better known as vapes or juuls, have been starting an epidemic. Vapes are mostly used by young adults and teenagers. The vapes don’t cost as much as regular cigarettes, they have appealing flavors, and they don’t have a strong smell like regular cigarettes. These factors appeal to younger people all over the world.

At the present time, there are even more students putting their lives at risk by using electronic cigarettes and vapes. The vapes are small and look similar to flash drives, so this makes it difficult for people to recognize them. The vapes heat a pod of e-liquid or “juice” chemicals. The chemicals include flavorings, nicotine, propylene glycol, and sometimes cannabis products. Cannabis is another term used for marijuana. The e-liquid turns into a vapor which the user will inhale. Marijuana is illegal in most states, and many people are hiding the fact that they are smoking marijuana by putting the cannabis in their vapes. Schools are starting to take action to prevent the use of electronic cigarettes from spreading, and to keep their students healthy and away from these addictive practices.

According to a John Hopkins study, vaping has been proven to be less harmful than regular cigarettes. Dr. Micheal Joseph Blaha notes that vaping doesn’t expose a user to as many chemicals as smoking a traditional cigarette. However, vaping is still very harmful to your health. Vapes still have nicotine, which is highly addictive. At one point, some believed that vapes could help a person quit smoking regular cigarettes; however, they just caused people to use both the vapes and regular cigarettes. Dr. Blaha states, “People need to understand that e-cigarettes are potentially dangerous to your health. You’re exposing yourself to all kinds of chemicals that we don’t yet understand and that are probably not safe.”

Doctors and scientists are still trying to find the real damage that vaping does. It is known that it is detrimental for your health. Doctors are also working on figuring out if “second-hand-vape” will affect a person. Therefore, it is needless to say that all individuals, both young and old, should stay away from vaping.