New study demonstrates the rising popularity of e-cigarettes among CHCCS students

Since electronic cigarettes were introduced to the global market in 2004, demand for the devices has grown signifcantly.

Electronic cigarettes, commonly referred to as “e-cigarettes,” are battery-powered, handheld vaporizers that mimic the effects of smoking tobacco by producing a vapor that is inhaled by the user, a process referred to as “vaping.” The liquid used to create the vapor can contain nicotine and is available in a variety of favors.

Loretta Que, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University, is a member of a team carrying out a study called “Use and Perceived Risk of E-Cigarettes among North Carolina Middle School and High School Students.”

Que found the results to be interesting.

“What we found was actually kind of striking,” Que said.

Based on the findings of the study, Que concluded that the likelihood of students using e-cigarettes increases as they get older.

“As they get older, students tend to think [e-cigarettes] are less bad for them than regular cigarettes,” Que said. “This may not be true.”

According to Que, there has not been suffcient research to determine whether e-cigarettes are, in fact, less harmful than normal cigarettes.

“There haven’t been good head-to-head comparisons yet because we don’t have permission [from the government] to do that yet,” Que said.

A recent study by the National Institute of Health (NIH) showed that use of e-cigarettes may lead to consumption of regular cigarettes, as well as other addictive drugs, in teens.

E-cigarettes allow users to satisfy their craving for nicotine and provide a feeling similar to smoking. Because they do not produce tobacco smoke, they are popularly considered to be less harmful than normal cigarettes. The United States government affrms that there has not been suffcient research to prove this.

Another proposed beneft of e-cigarettes is that they can help people quit smoking normal cigarettes. However, some brands state that they are “Not a smoking cessation product” on the label of their devices.

E-cigarettes are currently unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means there are no federal checks or regulations on what goes into them.

Jim Wise is the Student Assistance Program Specialist and Tobacco Reality Unfltered supervisor at Chapel Hill High School.

“The worst part is, we don’t know exactly what’s in a lot of those liquids. There is no legislation whatsoever anywhere that stipulates or controls what’s in those,” Wise said.

Regardless of their potential harm or benefts, e-cigarettes are growing in popularity—especially among adolescents.

Junior Joey Cannon occasionally vapes using nicotine-free fuid.

“A lot of people are undereducated on the subject. There are many different ways to vape,” Cannon said.

Aristotle Georgeson is a Los Angeles comedian, writer and improviser who is best known for his Instagram persona “BlakeVapes.”

The character, which is a satirical depiction of a man who centers his life around taking videos of himself smoking an e-cigarette, has been followed by more than 179 thousand users.

“I prefer e-cigs because they are not nasty like cigarettes. They are also defnitely better for the environment, because you don’t litter e-cigs,” Georgeson said.

rnelston@students.chccs.k12.nc.us

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