Is the vape worth the hate?
Vaping has been steadily growing in popularity over the past several years, with many people weaning off cigarettes by using electronic cigarettes instead. Approximately, 20.8 million people vape worldwide, and the numbers are rising. Vaping is designed for, and used mainly, to quit smoking cigarettes and to move to a safer alternative that still gives people their “sweet sweet” nicotine fix.
Although, it is not illegal for a teen to possess a vape, buying a vaporizer or any kind nicotine product, is. The reasons for vaping vary from person to person. For adults, vaping is a great way for them to reduce or even stop smoking. For teens, this can be direct gateway that leads to them smoking somewhere down the road. It could be argued that vaping is a much safer alternative rather than jumping right into cigarettes.
Several youths in Revelstoke were asked the question, “why do you vape” and the answers seemed to be around the fact that it helps relax them after a long day.
One student, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Revelstoke Current Student Reporter, “It is a nice way for me to relax after a long day and I can do tricks with the cloud”. Whether or not this form of inhalation of a nicotine product is addictive, a second anonymous student claimed, “The only time I have smoked is when I ran out of vape juice and I hated smoking”.
Another anonymous student stated, “Vaping has not made me start to smoke at all, it is completely different from smoking, and I definitely don’t want to smoke”. It was surprising to find that it was not the students that felt they had been hooked, but an adult was the one who made mention of this scenario, “My brother got me hooked and from there it became a fun thing to do every day” said one Revelstoke adult.
Science has not proved the exact downfalls to vaping, like they have with smoking cigarettes. So far, recorded side effects of vaping include: dry mouth, itchiness, and puffy/ dry eyes. One important note is that no one has died yet from vaping, unlike cigarettes which take roughly 480,000 lives a year in America and 37,000 lives a year in Canada. Shockingly, 53,800 people die from second hand smoke in America alone.
Although vapes were patented back in the 1960’s, vapes have become very big in the last decade, appearing first in China in 2004. Vapes don’t burn anything which means it does not produce any smoke, which also means that second hand smoke inhalation is not an issue.
With no smoke being produced from vapes, the smell of vaping is far more pleasant than the unpleasant smell of cigarettes. For those that use e-cigarettes as a method to kick the nicotine habit, both teens and adults need to be cautious of the social stigma surrounding them and whether or not they are a gateway to something worse.
