Vaping in high school is a problem. Nationally, one in four teens are using  vapes/e-cigarettes according to the CDC. As vaping in high schools increases, traditional smoking has hit an all time low. The reason this is important is that the vapes and e-cigarettes are having a catastrophic health impact on students.

A survey showed that 27.5% of teens have used a vape in the past 30 days CNBC says, which is up from 11.7% in 2017.

With the recent ban of flavored vapes there are predictions of teens use of vapes to decrease. The CDC says, “As of October 15, 2019, 1,479* lung injury cases associated with the use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products have been reported to CDC from 49 states (all except Alaska)”

 they also said that they “do know that THC is present in most of the samples tested by FDA” and that “national and state findings suggest [that] THC particularly those obtained off the street or from other informal sources are linked to most of the cases and play a major role in the outbreak.” 

The FDA has said that “no vaping products have been approved by the FDA for therapeutic uses or authorized for marketing.” 

The FDA recommends that if “you choose to use these products, monitor yourself for symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, chest pain)” 

the FDA said that if you have any of these symptoms to “promptly seek medical attention”

The CDC said that the “median age of patients is 23 years and ages range from 13 to 75 years” they also said “79% of patients are under 35 years old” 

Capital High School’s security guard, Chris Johnston, discusses the problems with vaping.

“I don’t think [high schoolers] truly know the impact of nicotine has on there body,” Chris

Had said. 

with the recent ban of flavored vapes Chris had also said that “it is certainly going to help [reduce high school vaping]” 

He had also talked about how “before vapes there where little to none in terms of cigarette smoking at our school and then vapes came along”

Chris had also talked about the accessibility of vapes and how “they are like cell-phones they are able to be charged just like cell-phones, it has a rechargeable battery just like a cell-phone”

The problem with vapes is just another speed bump that we all have to drive over, and with strength, we can get over them all.