Why Do Minors Smoke?

Teens who try e-cigarettes double their risk for smoking tobacco cigarettes. Studies found that in grades 7 to 12 , students that try an e-cigarette are 2.16 times more likely to be susceptible to smoking.

People have been debating on if e-cigs should be regulated or not. Only 18 years old or older could by them if they were regulated but some people don’t want them to be regulated. They argue that it helps teens and adults quit smoking yet 16 million children can legally buy e-cigs. A toddler actually accidently drank liquid nicotine and died because it was poisonous and legal to the public. Not putting a regulation on e-cigs could lead to more young children being poisoned or they could even possibly die.

Many people smoke e-cigarettes instead of regular cigarettes because they think they are a safe alternative. There is less smoke and they taste good! So they must be ok, right? Well that’s not so true. The chemical diacetyl is found in 75% of e-cigarettes. This chemical is linked to respiratory disease. It’s also the chemical that is used to flavor the smoke from your e-cigarettes taste good. In some States teens as young as sixteen are able to buy e-cigs from gas station in my opinion i think it's illegal to let teens buy e-cigarettes they can get lung disease known as popcorn lung

Over the last few decades, tobacco and nicotine prevention efforts have risen to an all time high. Prevention efforts focus on education to the public of the negative effects on one’s health when using tobacco and nicotine products, as well as with pleas to healthcare policymakers to increase restrictions on product manufacturing and sales. One policy effort growing in popularity in the United States is called Tobacco 21, which proposes to raise the legal age of purchase for consumers of tobacco and nicotine products to 21 years of age (Farber, Pakhale, & Neptune, 2016). Farber, Pakhale, and Neptune (2016) state that 90% of tobacco and nicotine users begin smoking before the age of 18, with 99% of users starting before the age of 26. Lower smoking cessation rates are associated with earlier ages of initiation and the tobacco industry is known to target youth in advertisement of these products lending to the early age of initiation. The tobacco industry themselves admit that increasing the age allowed for purchase to exclude youth would substantially effect their sales. Tobacco 21 laws also deter adolescents from gaining tobacco or nicotine products from friends 18 to 21 years of age, which is the most likely age group to supply younger teens. With this knowledge, placing tighter restrictions on consumers younger than 21 years of age, using the Tobacco 21 policy, may deter tobacco and nicotine initiation in hopes to prevent individual use at all in the future (Farber

Cigarette contains different poisonous ingredients, and nicotine is the one that creates addiction and leads to different diseases. Smoking cigarette is one of the worst problems our world is facing and the main reason for this term to be stressful is its consequence. Cigarette can cause different diseases that can directly or indirectly lead to death; “tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the united states” (cigarette smoking). Most of the time this consequence highly exists on young smokers or victims can be affected by the consequence because they started smoking young. In the United States 18 is the legal age for smoking cigarette and people are still using this law, but it is now the right time for a

creasing smokes an E-cig of American college students under the age of 20 who have never smoked before. Until recently, grocery stores and tobacco markets did not have a strict law to ban them from selling E-cig to children under the age of 18. James Lauria a 32 year old had a burn from the first degree after the E-cig he was smoking blow up in his face (electronic cigarettes should be regulated, 2015). In 1963, Herbert A. Gilbert patented the first E-cig, whose produced Cigalike device to heat the nicotine resolution and create water vapor (electronic cigarettes should be regulated, 2015). But Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, made the modern E-cig in 2003, to control the smoking desire (electronic cigarettes should be regulated, 2015). On other hand, there are many studies warn about the E-cig is harmful as the regular cig. Those studies explained three categories who are unhealthiness, addiction, and youths.

According to a report done by The National Academies, e-cigarettes are safer than burning tobacco, but “there is conclusive evidence that … most e-cigarette products contain and emit numerous potentially toxic substances” (Board, The Editorial). Just as many people ignore the fact that smoking cigarettes can do harm, they are ignoring the fact that e-cigarettes have the potential to do the same, and applauding themselves for choosing to not smoke real cigarettes. The risks of smoking e-cigarettes need to be more prominently stated and that if they were, more teens would choose to not smoke them. The use of e-cigarettes is higher among high school students than adults (“Know the Risks”). If they were being used to help adults stop smoking, then this would not be the case. Teens brains are still developing until long into their twenties, and the dangerous amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes can harm brain development (“Smoking & Tobacco”). E-cigarettes are just as addictive, if not more addictive than smoking tobacco, therefore our generation needs to stop using them before it’s too late and we have to find out the hard way about the long-term

There is a lot of debate whether vaping teens are becoming a major problem. The article “Warning: Vaping Teens Becoming a New Generation of Nicotine Addicts” by USAtoday.com address how vaping the becoming the new cigarettes for teens. E-cigarettes may seem like they aren’t harmful because they don’t have cancer producing tobacco. However, they still have nicotine and other harmful toxins according to the article. Vaping teens are becoming a big problem in our generation. Nowadays, teens vape to seem “cool” or simply because of peer pressure. Schools in bigger areas have a bigger problem with vaping teens because it is easier for them to get the e-cigarettes than here. Consequently, schools will find more students who are addicted even though

Did you know that many teens as low as the age of 12 to 13 have already started vaping. Its true many teens think that it is okay to start vaping because there is no “tobacco”. Well they are wrong many studies showing that vaping can cause serious damage to your health, including bronchitis, pneumonia, and can even cause gum disease and this is just what we know, since vaping hasn't been out long enough to know its true effects.In the article “Concerns explode over new health risks of vaping” it says that “Irfan Rahman talked to young vapers, some complained of bleeding mouths and throats. And these bloody sores seemed slow to heal.” This shows that even the people using these vapes have seen an impact on their health and still many are using

This study “A systematic review of health effects of electronic cigarettes” is important because it dives into the details surrounding current teen phenomenon and obsession of vaping. As someone who has been in high school and has siblings in high school, I am well aware of the especially large effects it can have on adolescents health and safety. Not all that much is clear about vaping, so it is extremely important that research about it continues. A study is the most helpful when it is conclusive, not when it has mere suggestions. In this case, more studies performed means that we are closer to a foundational argument about the effects of vaping amongst teens. According to this methodical article, 76 studies were investigated, polling various bits of information from a variety of sources.

Teens have become addicted to vaping. An article says, “about 11% of high school seniors vaped nicotine in 2017; about a quarter of those seniors say they vape 20 or more times a month” (Board). The data shows that teens have become addicted to vaping. They have even begun to use them more than cigarettes (National Institute on Drug Abuse). With this, the health risks have not been fully assessed yet because they are still very new. A source says, “While there are currently no links to negative health effects such as cancer and pulmonary problems, there is not enough evidence to say that they are safe for certain” (Pocock). Even though the

“In interviews, teenagers said that e-cigarettes had become almost as common at school as laptops, a change from several years ago, when few had seen them” (Tavernise). More and more teenagers think that it is okay to vape, and it is becoming such a greater trend. This can be dangerous because although the use of cigarettes is going down, the use of e-cigarettes is going up. “The decline of cigarette use among teenagers accelerated substantially from 2013 to 2014, dropping by 25 percent, the fastest pace in years” (Tavernise). However, this is obviously due to the increase in e-cigarettes which although may prove to be a better alternative, it is still causing harm. The use of e-cigarettes could also be a passageway into the use of regular cigarettes, which is another major problem. Finally, the use of electronic cigarettes is increasing rapidly with the declining use of traditional

The author Rachel Kranz in “Straight Talk About Smoking,’ states, “Smoking more means that Lynette has less to spend on pizza and after-school snacks, because she’s got to make sure she can afford three or four packs of cigarettes each week.” (Kranz). Peer pressure to smoke can also be a way of teenagers proving that they are mature. Maturity is something that all teenagers have been told to obtain; especially by adults. The legal smoking age in most states is twenty-one, and most adults do smoke. Teenagers think that they can feel more grown up when they smoke and fit in society. Kaz Vorpal in the book of “Teen Smoking,’” states, “Adults do certain things, and therefore children who do those things feel they are more like grownups.” (Vorpal 66). Movies also contributes to teen smoking by portraying smoking as a cool, pleasurable, and harmless thing. All these factors give the teen a pressure to start smoking and never realize that the Nicotine that is found in the cigarette is addictive and causes major health problems like cancer.

Vaping might just be the newest obsession among high school students. A vaporizing or e-cigarette device is an apparatus which heats nicotine laced liquid into a gas (Wilcox 6). The laced liquid comes in various flavors and delivers teens enough of a “buzz” to keep them coming back. This “buzz” comes from the nicotine going to the user’s brain, consequently causing the brain to release adrenaline. Because these vaporizing devices are illegal for minors, these gadgets fulfill the zeal for rebellion countless students face in their high school years. Although some articles claim these devices should be legalized for minors because they are “far less harmful than the traditional cigarette” and do not allegedly have any known long term health effects

These teens may think that smoking shows that they are old enough to make their own decisions.