e-Cigs and Teens
e-cigs and teens don’t mix well. Former smokers that turned to vaping can have their debate, but we’ve known for years that nicotine is dangerous to youths. At the very least, adolescents are highly susceptible to becoming addicted, and nicotine addiction stays with you for life. So what’s a parent to do?
The first step is to get serious about liquid smoke and, as we always say, become educated. US News and World Report posted a good article to get you started. Parents must be aware of the dangers, both immediate and long term, that go along with teens using e-cigarettes and “vapes”. The amount of nicotine introduced to the body with each puff varies between brands and dosages, and there is no way to tell what other ingredients are included. Seriously. They aren’t checked by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), so anything could be in there.
Even if all e-cig producers are on the level and make certain that only water, nicotine, and safe fillers are in their products, there is still the immediate danger that comes with being a teen. If one takes a dare to drink a bottle of vaping liquid with a high nicotine rating, they can end up very sick or dead from nicotine poisoning. When you put that danger aside, there are still the long-term affects of inhibited development and addiction. When substance abuse or addiction starts at a young age, it spells bad news for adulthood.
So how do you know if your child is vaping? Go to a source that is popular with e-cigarette users and learn their slang. If your teen is using cryptic language that references the activity, you’ll be ahead of the game. For example, here is a forum post that links to a Google spreadsheet with slang terms. They ask that other forum members keep it up to date, which may or may not be happening, but at least you get the idea.
For now, this is the urgent issue with e-cigarettes. Of course it’s safer to not vape at all since nobody can be certain, at this time, of what is in them. Adults need to figure this out, just like they did for decades with tobacco. But if we don’t fix the e-cigs and teens issue right away, we’ll be destroying decades worth of progress with smoking cessation.