Effects of JUUL Manufactures on Teens

Priscilla Banuelos, Writer

The popularity of the Juul has skyrocketed to reach mainly young people, ranging from ages 15 to 24. A popular question that has arose is how and why these products have risen in popularity. Studies state that in 2017, the e-cigarette market has skyrocketed by 40%. The reason of this outbreak, as recently disclosed, is because of the many retailers of Juul which includes gas stations, convenience stores, and online sellers selling to underaged youth.

The mission of Juul is helping the one billion adult smokers to be able to reduce or eliminate their consumption entirely. Juul companies believe that they are a part of the solution to end smoking and not the problem. If studies did not clarify that there is an unsettling imbalance of teens using Juul vs adult smokers, Juul’s statement would be viable.

The difficulty for companies to sell legally to their consumers has affected the health of millions of preteens, teens, and beyond.  The “nicotine in these products can rewire an adolescent’s brain, leading to years of addiction,” said Scott Gottlieb, the head of the Food and Drug Administration. Not stopping at that, vaping can lead to various different types of health problems such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis, also known as wet lung, increased heart rate and blood pressure, lung disease, chronic bronchitis and insulin resistance leading to type two diabetes.

Schools across the United States are full of Juuls and hard to keep under control because of the easily portable flash drive looking device that makes it easy to hide. At Loyola Academy, there is a range of different ways the adults deal the challenging vaping epidemic. Deans are able to do random backpack checks, patrol the bathrooms, and most effectively, educate themselves.

Dean Desherow of Loyola Academy told us how educating himself was a big factor when he noticed how troubled the school was becoming. Desherow made sure he educated himself by doing research to learn the harmful effects to educate the students that get caught. In addition to this, he also spoke about what Loyola has done to put an end to vapes.

Just a few steps Loyola has made include: putting vapes in the handbook under the same category as drug paraphernalia and tobacco prevention, patrols in the bathrooms, workshops, and web seminars.

In another interview with the head of deans, Dean Culhane, we asked how vaping has affected her everyday life she responded saying she had to give a lot of “mom lectures.” Culhane also mentioned how there is an attempt to educate students on vapes their freshman year because suddenly students are starting to vape in junior high.

Loyola has a program for students going through addictions called the CARE program. Mentioning it to Dean Desherow he had one strong message about the program which was that he had “never had a repeat offender that came out of the CARE program.”

In Dean Colhane’s experience of twenty years only two of many have gone through the program and tested positive to the drug test.