Quit Vaping Now!

Photo of a man vaping! (Photo Credits to Wikimedia Commons)

Photo of a man vaping! (Photo Credits to Wikimedia Commons)

Jillian Parry and Grace Guarnieri

Do you want to live to see 50? Do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be there for all your major life events? Then quit vaping NOW! And we aren’t just talking about adults; we are talking to kids our age. Vaping causes many health issues such as cancer, lung disease, brain damage, heart problems, or even death. People ages 15-25 do not know what ingredients vapes or e-cigarettes contain. Most adolescents are drawn to vapes and e-cigarettes because companies advertise fun flavors and cool designs. Don’t give in; this is just for money! They use these distractors to draw attention to their product without caring about your health. People also buy e-cigarettes that look like pens, USB drives, and other items to hide that they are actually vaping.  Just think: people are getting rich while knowing they are hurting you. 

 The worst part about smoking is the nicotine. But according to a CDC  study, 99% of e-cigarettes contain nicotine even though some companies claim they don’t. This is a highly addictive substance. According to Johns Hopkins 7 to 10 smokers say they want to stop but they can’t because they have become addicted. Nicotine is in most tobacco products. It raises blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline; it increases your heart rate and your likelihood of having a heart attack.  People who say “I will only try it once.” usually get addicted to smoking their whole life. More than 50,000,000 people in America are addicted to nicotine and 16,000,000 have life threatening diseases due to nicotine addiction. About 480,000 Americans die from smoking or vaping and approximately 41,000 people die from second-hand smoke. John Hopkins also stated almost one-third of deaths from heart disease are from smoking or being a victim of secondhand smoke. Most of the people around second-hand smoke usually end up smoking themselves. 

 

 

X-ray of healthy lungs. (Photo Credit to Freepik)

These are the lungs of a teen vaper:

Unfortunately, youth vaping is becoming more common as the years go by. According to Rally Health, “Between 2011 and 2019, the number of high school students using e-cigarettes grew from 1.5% to 27.5%. 3,600,000 adolescents have used an e-cigarette in the past year. 1,600,000 high school students and 500,000 middle school students currently use e-cigarettes. Most students find vaping or smoking cool and popular. E-cigarettes now have a high tech look and contain more nicotine than ever before which helps drive this popularity. Vaping might seem like a fun idea at the moment or something to make you look cool in front of your friends, but that could not be farther from the truth. You are basically asking for life long diseases and death. Think before you choose to vape or smoke. The outcome is never a positive experience! Be smart and make the right choice!