As juuls gain popularity, the FDA is creating many regulations in an attempt to prevent teens from getting their hands on them. Juuls are the latest e-cigarette, and due to a high nicotine content, they are highly addictive. Juuls were originally created to help those who were addicted to cigarettes by offering them a “healthier” option in order to wean them off cigarettes. However, many people, specifically younger people, do not use juuls to quit smoking. In fact, between 2011 and 2015, e-cigarette use within high-schoolers went from 1.5% to 16%. In middle schoolers, it went from 0.6% to 5.3%.
Music performance major Ryan Byrnes said, “I tried switching to juuls [from cigarettes], it was more addictive and I ended up spending more money on it.”
Juul pods are fifteen dollars a pack. Each pod is the same as about one pack of cigarettes, which is about 200 puffs of nicotine. Because there is such a high concentration of nicotine in juul pods, they become more addictive, and more expensive. Many people claim that they go through one pod a day, and there are 4 pods in one pack. So, those people that are going through one pod a day are spending roughly 30 dollars a week, making juuling not only high addictive, but also very expensive.
The FDA has not yet approved juuls and they are threatening to shut the company down if they cannot find a way to prevent the youth from purchasing them. The company’s original intention for the juul was to help people quit smoking. However, this ended up backfiring, as most of the youth that are now addicted to juuls have not even smoked a cigarette before.
While juuling is technically a “healthier” alternative, people can still get “popcorn lung” from e-cigarettes because they contain an artificial flavor called diacetyl. This damages their lungs and causes coughing and shortness of breath. It is also irreversible.
Nicotine itself has many dangers as well. According to the University of New Hampshire, nicotine can cause insulin resistance which leads to type 2 diabetes from chronic nicotine exposure. Nicotine can also cause suppressed appetite, increased heart rate and blood pressure, lung disease, chronic bronchitis, and impairment of prefrontal brain development in adolescents.
IMC major Victoria Howard said, “I think that juuling is a good alternative to cigarettes, I had a fling with cigarettes and juuls helped me not smoke them, but I don’t like that high-schoolers have normalized it.”
Cigarette smoking can lead to various types of cancer, namely lung cancer. The death toll from smoking cigarettes is roughly 480,000 people each year. Juuling and vaping can help decrease this number, offering those who smoke cigarettes a healthier alternative. These options are not safe, however, and can still easily lead to lung damage and nicotine dependency.
While Juuling remains a prevalent problem, the company has begun to make an effort to appeal to adults, rather than teens. While the company is changing their look, they face the risk of being shut down due to the reality of teenage nicotine use.
