We get it, you vape. But should you?

Smoking, drinking and drug abuse have reportedly declined among teenagers, only to be replaced by vaping. Started as a way to break addiction to cigarettes, vaping has replaced cigarettes as a teen epidemic. Vaping, which turns liquid mixtures into inhalable vapor involves the inhalation of water vapor through an electronic cigarette or “e-cig,”

Students like Allexandra Hicks have internalized the dangers of smoking cigarettes but indulge in the  novelty of e-cigs. The Howard University junior said she vapes almost every day. “It’s just a calming effect really and really smooth while cigarettes are way harsher to your throat,” Hicks said. “It’s also good that vaping has no smell while the scent of cigarettes stain on your clothes and your fingers.” Howard University Biology major Alexus Lyles said, “Cigarettes cause cancer in not only the lungs but in almost every part of your body. When people refer to the cigarette as a ‘cancer stick’ it’s literally just that. The long term effects are extremely harmful for your body.”

Graph showcasing the increase of vaping usage throughout the years. Photo courtesy of statistics.com.

However, the danger in vaping is the similar to the danger in smoking: the addictive additive nicotine. Researchers are starting to further examine the impact of vaping and e-cigarette usage. It has exploded. In 2014 there was a 3.7 percent increase in e-cigarette usage compared with 10 percent growth from 2018 to 2019. Even more alarming is the growth of use among students. Spurred by such flavors as coconut cream pie, 11 percent of high school seniors, 8 percent of 10th-graders, and 3.5 percent of eighth-graders reported using vaping with nicotine, according to Yale Medicine. Like cigarette campaigns of old, vaping commercials target the young. Without change, the greatest impact of vaping will harm a new generation of smokers.

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