The Price of Vaping
By Bailey Lakin, 10/9/2019 (Header image by JUULAU)
Vaping began getting popular about eight years ago and with its growing popularity amongst high school and college-age young adults, it has never been bigger than it is right now. Yet, with over 500 confirmed cases, a mysterious lung illness linked to vaping has taken America by surprise and causing some to worry about the health of America’s youth.
Until recently, vaping was considered a pretty safe alternative to smoking. Fueled by substances called “vape juice,” vapes come in a numerous number of different brands and flavors of juice, ranging from sour Skittles and key lime pie to actual tobacco, depending on the individual’s likes.
In addition to a wide range of tastes, “juices” also contain different levels of nicotine, typically in 3, 6, and 12 milligrams sizes but going all the way up to 24 mg of nicotine or 0 mg choice for those who have quit nicotine but still want something to smoke on or for those people that vape to “blow clouds.”
Vaping has never been as popular as it is right now. Due to newer devices and higher nicotine levels, it has also never been as dangerous as it is right now.
Late in 2018, a new vaping device called “JUUL” was released to the world. This new smaller, thinner easy-to-hide device quickly took over the vaping world, compared to its big-box mod and tank counterparts.
When one purchases a Juul starter kit, it comes the device, a small USB charger, and four 3 oz. pods filled with highly addictive salt nicotine juice. Refill packs come with four pods in five different flavors: mango, fruit medley, crème Brule, mint, and Virginia tobacco.
With JUUL being less than a year old, not many knew how strong, or harmful, these pods could be. Chemically, one pod was the equivalent to a pack of cigarettes.
In 2019, high school and college students were reported Juuling so often they were going through two to three pods a day. Even some cases where underage students were hospitalized from nicotine overdoses, bleeding and rotting gums, and air pockets in their lungs from smoking multiple pods a day.
Despite these cases, vape usage and “cloud-blowing” has become increasingly popular among young vapers, even developing cloud-blowing competitions with cash prizes for blowing the biggest cloud.
While the growing health concerns are genuine, these incidents have lead many to ask, is vaping/Juuling to blame or is it something more dangerous?
Mike Taylor, a regular at the Vaporized vape shop in East Peoria, has been an avid vaper for four years. He shared his thoughts about the recent illnesses linked to vaping, “Well I’ve been vaping for four years nonstop every single day and I am perfectly fine. It’s the fake THC carts that everyone is buying off the streets for twenty-five dollars you have to know what you are buying before you inhale something into your body.”
With the legalization of recreational marijuana in Illinois, vaping cartridges with THC extract has also gained popularity but with recreational THC only being legal in 11 states it has created a massive black-market industry of fake cartridges.
Multiple brands of fake carts have been identified and linked to the lung illnesses that are killing people. Anyone can buy these empty carts, package them, and fill them with anything they want to.
Nurse Jana Ridings at Proctor hospital was approached about these vaping-related illnesses.
“I’ve seen more illnesses with THC carts than vape-related cases. About 80% of the lung-related illnesses we have seen in the ER have been solely linked to THC cartridges.” Ridings also stated her thoughts on the practice of vaping, “I personally think that vaping is better than cigarettes, but I also think that vaping has caused addictions to thousands of teens who never touched a cigarette.”
While many theories exist, just like any epidemic, it is hard to identify what is actually causing it but the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has made a statement urging people to “quit vaping until they figure out what exactly is causing this lung illness.”
