Article by Dr. Jeff Siegel
By now, most of you have heard of the Juul. Juul is the most popular
brand of e cigarettes in the US, with over 70 % of the market. Juul has
a 15 billion-dollar valuation. E cigarette use increased from 1.5% in
2011 to 21% (3.5 million) in 2018 among high school students. In 2018 it
was estimated that 5% of middle school students were vaping as well.
This has now been declared an epidemic. The FDA is currently looking at
ways to combat this epidemic. Recently, Juul has taken the most popular
flavored pods off the retail shelves. They are still available in some
vape shops and online. In Arizona, you can buy a Juul if you are over
18. Juul has built in a system online so you have to be over 21 to
purchase. 17 states have now increased the legal age to 21, including
New York and Washington DC. San Francisco has recently passed an
ordinance to ban e cigarettes city wide. If you talk with current high
school students in Arizona, they will tell you they have no trouble
buying e cigarette products.
What are some important facts to know and share with your kids?
1) If parents smoke or vape, their children are twice as likely to become addicted to nicotine.
2) A Juul cartridge contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.
Developing brains in adolescents become more easily addicted to
nicotine, one of the top 5 most addicting drugs known.
3) The younger our kids start doing drugs or drinking alcohol, the more
likely they are to continue with high risk behaviors as they get older.
4) A 2017 study found that non-smoking adults were four times more
likely to start smoking traditional cigarettes after only 18 months of
vaping, which includes “Juuling.”
5) The Juul contains benzoic acid, which is known to cause coughs, sore
throat, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting if exposure is constant,
which is the case when using a Juul.
6) There is evidence that nicotine harms the brain development of teenagers.
7) The long-term effects of e cigarettes are still not known. E
cigarette vapor does contain cancer causing chemicals, although at lower
amounts then traditional cigarettes.
8) There have been cases of e cigarettes exploding, causing serious injury.
9) A simple urine test for cotinine can be purchased for about 8 dollars on Amazon to test if your kids have been vaping.
10) If your child smokes infrequently, cotinine will usually be present
in the urine for about four days. With regular exposure to nicotine,
cotinine may be detectable for up to three weeks after the last
exposure.
We all need to work together to fight this epidemic. Keeping an open and
ongoing dialogue with your children is always the first place to start.