The Causes And Effects And The False Consumption Of Vaping

Smoking has been around for decades. “Globally, smoking has contributed more than seven million deaths” (Andrews, et al. 2018). The number of death from smoking is higher than any accidents or other drugs. As we all know, nicotine is an addictive chemical. “Roughly 69% of current smokers tried to quit but failed” (Andrews, et al. 2018). Once people started smoking, it will be very hard to quit. Smoking leads to different types of diseases, and the most common one is lung disease. “In 2004, the use of e-cigarette has been introduced by Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist” (Menakuru 2018). “This became an alternative to traditional cigarettes” (Brożek, et al. 2019). Many people switched to e-cigarettes because they think it is not harmful, especially among students and young adults. This is not entirely true; some types of e-cigarettes are as harmful as traditional cigarettes, and some are even more harmful. For example, Juul, one of the most popular e-cigarette brand, each Juul pod contain the amount of nicotine of twenty cigarettes (Juul). As vaping has become more popular, there have been misconceptions about whether or not it is bad for you. College students do not understand the dangers that come with vaping.

According to Menakuru, he stated, “A JAMA report in 2016 showed that the use of e-cigarettes by students rose up to 16% in 2015, from 1.5% in 2011.” The use of e-cigarettes has been increased dramatically among students. Most students smoke e-cigarettes under the false assumption that e-cigarettes have no side effects. “The nicotine in e-cigarettes also causes withdrawal symptoms like cigarettes” (Menakuru 2018). Like any other drug, the human body produces those chemicals; In this case, it is nicotine. If a person started consuming nicotine, the body will stop producing that chemical. When that person stops consuming nicotine and the body stops producing it, the nicotine withdrawal will occur.

As most of the freshmen just turned eighteen and get away from family, they are curious and want to try things that were forbidden before. Unlike hardcore drugs or cigarettes, vaping is a better option for the following reasons: the fruity flavors taste good, students can vape inside, cheaper than cigarettes, and they think vape is harmless. Moreover, students think it is cool to do different vape tricks. Social influence also plays a big factor in the rise in the popularity of vaping. Perhaps your favorite streamer or influencer vape and do many cool things with e-cigarettes, so you started vaping as well to be “cool”. Another social influence could be your group of friends. If all of your friends use e-cigarettes, you feel that you need to do it with your friends because you do not want to be left out. And over time, the nicotine content will make you addict to vaping and you will start vaping. In some cases, when students go to parties, everyone has some sort of e-cigarettes and you need to do stuff as vaping to get on well with everyone else. Coming from a different culture, I started smoking cigarettes when I was fourteen years old. From my perspective, I was influenced by my dad and my friends. My dad is a daily smoker and he always has a pack of cigarettes in his hands every time I see him. One day, I remembered my friends and I was hanging out, everyone was smoking and they forced me to try it. Like everyone else, my first impression was the nasty taste of the cigarette. After times, I learned to adapt to the taste and I never thought that the nicotine would make me addictive. In my opinion, psychology plays a big role in my addiction. People tend to want what they do not have. So after smoked my last cigarette a while ago, I started craving for cigarettes. Nothing in the world could ever replace the sensation of having a cigarette in my mouth, not even vaping can soothe my craving. That is why a lot of people tried to quit but failed.

Vaping is harmful to your body. First, vaping can cause popcorn lung. “Popcorn lung is a condition that lung’s airways have been damaged and popcorn lung will make you cough, or short of breath” (CDC). This is bad especially for athletes, as their endurance and performance will decrease. “Smoking has been reported to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cancer” (Menakuru 2018). From my own experience, I do feel short of breath and lower endurance performance when I smoke or vape. Besides popcorn lung, vaping can also cause lung cancer or mouth cancer. This is lethal and students should stay away from vaping. Secondly, smoking also gives you oral and hygiene problems. The smoke coming out of the e-cigarette is going to stick on your teeth and after time it will make your teeth yellow or worse, mouth cancer. People who smoke also experience acne, depression, and dehydrated. This is not good for college students since they need to stay healthy so they can perform well in school. Thirdly, smoking is also harmful to the brain and heart. Nicotine is a mild stimulant that triggers the receptors and releases a chemical called dopamine which makes you feel satisfied and want to do it again. This is one of the biggest reasons that people become addicted to nicotine. Nonetheless, Smoking gives you faster heartbeats. This could lead to heart diseases or even a stroke. From all the reasons above, smoking does more harm than good either from cigarettes or e-cigarettes. Especially with vaping, since it has not been around long enough, no one really knows the real long-term effect of vaping.

Recently, in Michigan, a man passed away from vaping-related lung injury on October 2nd, 2019 (Lawler 2019). This is the first death in Michigan that is related to vaping. It reveals that vaping is very harmful to your body, and it could be lethal enough to kill people. Moreover, there are more than one thousand lung injury cases associated with vaping from forty-eight states (Lawler 2019). This is a warning to young adults and college students that vaping are harmful and people should stay away from e-cigarettes. “People who vape are likely to smoke cigarettes later in life” (Rankin, et al. 2019). Following that, students should not vape considering they will build up a habit of vaping regularly and eventually, they will start smoking.

Additionally, the state of Michigan tried to ban all the sales of flavored vaping nicotine product and the ban was effected on October 2nd, 2019 (Lawler 2019). The governor stated that the ban on the flavored product is necessary to stop youth from vaping (Lawler 2019). But from that, people addicted to cigarettes and currently using e-cigarettes as an alternative are also affected. Some people addicted to nicotine were trying to stock up enough e-cigarettes until the permanent ban ended; some people stocked up the e-cigarettes so they can sell it to make profits. Green stated:” I’ve definitely talked to some people about driving to Ohio to get them. But honestly, if worst comes to worst I might just start smoking cigarettes again... the addiction is there whether I like it or not” (Lawler 2019). Luckily, Michigan judge stops the ban on the flavored vaping products enforced by the state of Michigan. This might be good news for adults who are vaping as an alternative for traditional cigarettes, but people should also consider the well-being of the youth. As we discovered, vaping could lead to many different diseases especially to teenagers and youth-adult who are not fully developed. Nonetheless, parents should control their kids and try not to let them vape, or educate everyone about the harmful of nicotine and e-cigarettes.

As vaping has become more popular, there have been misconceptions about whether or not it is bad for you. College students do not understand the dangers that come with vaping. Vaping was introduced in 2004, so there is not enough time for researchers to find out the long-term effect of vaping. However, from deaths and thousands of lung injuries cases related to vaping, it is safe to assume that vaping is very harmful to your body, if not more harmful than traditional cigarettes. Students should stay away from vaping, as well as smoking cigarettes. As we all know, nicotine is an addictive substance. If students consume nicotine, they will be addicted and this could lead to other things. The main goal of college students is to stay healthy, hydrated, and to perform well in school. Not only smoking is going to cost students money, in the future, it might also cost lives.

Works Cited

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Menakuru, Sasmith, and Inzamam A. Mir. 'Beliefs and Reality of e-Cigarette Smoking.' BMJ Case Reports, vol. 2018, 2018. ProQuest, http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/2115629935?accountid=39473, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2018-225683.

McDermott, Máirtín S., et al. “Exposure to and Perceptions of Health Warning Labels on Nicotine Vaping Products: Findings from the 2016 International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd (10.1111), 12 Feb. 2019, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.14550.

“Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm.

Barna, S., et al. 'First Comparative Results about the Direct Effect of Traditional Cigarette and e-Cigarette Smoking on Lung Alveolocapillary Membrane using Dynamic Ventilation Scintigraphy.' Nuclear Medicine Communications, vol. 40, no. 2, 2019, pp. 153-158.

Rankin, Gregory D., et al. “The Toxic Potential of a Fourth‐Generation E‐Cigarette on Human Lung Cell Lines and Tissue Explants.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 8 Apr. 2019, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jat.3799.

Brożek, Grzegorz Marek, et al. “The Prevalence of Cigarette and E-Cigarette Smoking Among Students in Central and Eastern Europe-Results of the YUPESS Study.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, MDPI, 28 June 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651674/?tool=pmcentrez&report=abstract.

“How Much Nicotine Is in a JUULpod?” JUUL USA, https://support.juul.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026223453-How-much-nicotine-is-in-a-JUULpod-.

Lawler, Emily. “First Vaping-Related Death Reported in Michigan.” Mlive, 4 Oct. 2019, https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/10/first-vaping-related-death-reported-in-michigan.html.

Lawler, Emily. “Michigan Flavored Vape Ban Takes Effect Today: 6 Things to Know.” Mlive, 2 Oct. 2019, https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/10/michigan-flavored-vape-ban-takes-effect-today-6-things-to-know.html.