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CLEVELAND, Ohio – The US Food and Drug Administration said this month that it is serious about keeping vaping products out of the reach of underage students.
Their use of devices like Juul brand electronic cigarettes has become an "epidemic," said FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. And it is clear that these devices, which some use as a less dangerous alternative for people who already smoke cigarettes, are marketed to young people who have never smoked.
Seduced by such flavors as Mango, Birthday Cake and Fruit Medley (there are 7,000 different flavors) and ignoring the risk of nicotine addiction, teens are fueling electronic cigarettes when they have never thought of lighting a smoke.
I had to know more, so I spent time with a high school student. What she said was scary.
About half of the young people she knows in her suburban neighborhood. Gas stations are easy places to buy the "pods" of fruit juice or flavored fruit juices that contain nicotine and become nicotine vapors. Sometimes they do not ask for a piece of identification, sometimes an 18-year-old buys and sells at a margin: "They have $ 16. You just give them $ 20 and they keep the rest."
The flavors are enticing, unlike cigarettes, which are disgusting.
"The mint flavor makes you feel so fresh, you do not feel like you're doing anything wrong because it does not taste bad," she tells me. "It tastes like brushing your teeth."
Kids "Juul" (it's become a verb) not only for the taste, but for the buzz. They deny that they are addicted using as addicts. "Some people do it every hour or they have a headache," she said.
And at 17, she confessed to having vaporized and left herself. Subclasses, she says, are greatly influenced by the upper classes.
"It's just an epidemic," she said. "Because they want to be cool."
It's a pretty insightful kid. But I am biased.
She is my daughter.
And yes, some of it was difficult to hear. I wanted to shout at her and I really wanted to strengthen her.
But I tried to quell my hypocritical tendencies, reminding myself that I had taken my guitar lesson money to high school and that I was using it to buy Newport packets that we smoked on them. railways. I stopped young too. The smoke made me sick. I should have stick with the guitar.
What my wife and I did was listen and talk. We examined the health implications of nicotine addiction and unknown effects of steam. We explained that vaping does not show independence, it shows a certain acquiescence to group thinking and marketing.
We hope to preach to the choir.
But our daughter is like a lot of sons and daughters in this country who have engaged in what Dr. Gottlieb has called an "almost ubiquitous – and dangerous" trend.
The FDA conducted an undercover campaign and found retailers willing to sell to minors. Many have received warning letters. These types of actions must be continuous and costly for scofflaws.
The FDA is giving Juul and other manufacturers 60 days to develop plans to prevent teens from smoking, and they are attacking retailers who sell to children who are not yet 18 years old. safer alternatives to smoking, used by smokers to eliminate the habit.
Gottlieb said: "The FDA can not tolerate that an entire generation of young people become addicted to nicotine to allow adults to access these products." If that means banning the flavors, so be it. If it means removing products from the shelves, this is not the case either.
This does not concern the individual freedoms of adults. Smoke them if you have any, provided you do not breathe the exhaust gas. And if you want to vape, vape. But, come on, do not suck the kids. There are a lot of regulations on cigarettes (no flavors allowed, except menthol, for example) that could apply to electronic cigarettes if need be.
Online commerce can be more closely regulated.
Another sensible step would be to increase the age of purchase of all smoker and equestrian products from 18 to 21 years, which would reduce the profits of straw buyers. Sorry, enterprising old people. You will need to mow lawns instead. In Cleveland and Akron, the age limit is 21 years. The Cleveland Heights City Council is also considering this possibility.
All of these things are essential.
And even as we try to control the problems of nicotine addiction among young people, you should know that almost 1 in 11 students have used marijuana in electronic cigarettes.
As important as any regulatory measure, parents need to know about it.
And talk to our kids.
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