New study reveals children use "vaping" devices for smoking in school

Los Angeles: A discreet gadget, supposed to help adults quit smoking, has landed in the hands of high school students, who suck nicotine vapors into the clbadroom, according to a study.

The gadget called JUUL is a bit bigger than a gum package. The study of 80,000 tweets shows that the JUUL vaporizer is widely used by high school students, college students and even elementary school students in the United States.

"We found young people talking about the use of JUUL in schools, in clbadrooms, in bathrooms, at the library, at playtime and at the gymnasium", explains Jon- Patrick Allem, of the University of Southern California. "JUUL's vapors dissipate quickly, unlike the revealing cloud of e-cigarettes vaping devices, which allows children to use nicotine without being detected," said Germany's lead author. study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The device consists of a vaporizer powered by a USB flash drive easy to conceal. Users insert cartridges called JUULpod containing nicotine salts found in tobacco leaves. The device converts nicotine into vapor that releases a nicotine wall; A JUULpod provides as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes

The device is touted as a "smoking alternative" for adults who are trying to quit, but the posts on Twitter show that minors use it to "vape" at school without being caught. The use of nicotine is known to be addictive and harmful to adolescent brain development. Germany said that in a sample of more than 80,000 posts on Twitter, about 1 in 25 mentioned the use of JUUL in school. "Despite the JUUL brand image as an alternative to smoking, very few Twitter users have mentioned smoking cessation with JUUL," according to the study. The researchers observed that about 1 out of 350 Twitter messages mentioned JUUL's use. JUUL to stop smoking, much less than messages about use in school.