Vaping Epidemic Creating Teen Addicts

Tennessee is facing a major health crisis: the vaping epidemic creating teen addicts. And it’s worse than you might realize.

Vaping has skyrocketed among teens in the last two years. In fact, e-cigarette use increased enormously from 2017 to 2018: 48% among middle school students and 78% among high school students.

According to a study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 30% of American 12th-graders reported vaping nicotine at least once in 2018, concluding that this increase was “the largest ever recorded for any substance in the 44 years” that it has tracked adolescent drug use.

At the center of this controversy is JUUL Labs, the company behind JUUL, the world’s most popular e-cigarette. They are making an enormous profit while our vulnerable young people become addicts for life. This is why I am offering a free legal consultation to any young person who has been harmed by the JUUL e-cigarette epidemic.

Nicotine addiction is especially harmful to young people and their still-developing brains.

Nicotine exposure during adolescence can impact learning, memory, and attention. It can also increase risk for future addiction to other drugs. Young adults are uniquely in danger of long-term, long-lasting effects of nicotine on their brain. These risks include mood disorders and permanently lowering their impulse control. Nicotine also changes the way synapses form in the brain and can bring on physical symptoms like seizures, stroke, nicotine poisoning, as well as heart and lung problems.

We already know that the nicotine in regular cigarettes is terrible for our health (and terrible for our kids). But, alarmingly, JUUL vapes are much stronger than regular cigarettes.

According to the Surgeon General of the United States, “All JUUL e-cigarettes have a high level of nicotine. A typical JUULpod (cartridge) contains about as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes… This is of particular concern for young people, because it could make it easier for them to initiate the use of nicotine through these products and also could make it easier to progress to regular e-cigarette use and nicotine dependence.”

Alarmingly, about two-thirds of JUUL users between the ages of 15 and 24 did not understand that JUUL products always contain the highly-addictive and damaging chemical nicotine.

As you can see, the JUUL e-cigarette is far from a harmless trend for young people. It could be stripping them of a bright future.

JUUL Labs marketed their harmful e-cigarettes to teens.

Over 18 million high school and middle school students were exposed to e-cigarette ads in 2014, according to the CDC. These include ads on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter featuring young people in trendy clothes vaping.

JUUL touts an adults-only stance when it comes to their products, but Stanford researchers have concluded that JUUL’s marketing campaign has proven this isn’t true. These researchers found that “JUUL’s advertising imagery in its first 6 months on the market was patently youth oriented.”

JUUL’s flavors are designed to appeal to kids, too. In one CDC survey, more than a third of minors between 6th and 12th grade cited flavors such as chocolate, candy, mint, and fruit as their reason for trying e-cigarettes.

JUUL’s extreme popularity among teens can be attributed to other factors, as well. JUUL e-cigs are discreet; the vapor from JUULpods doesn’t smell like tobacco or smoke. JUUL’s design also looks more like a USB drive than a traditional e-cigarette. This makes it easy for teens to hide it from teachers, parents, or other people in a position of authority. They’re also inexpensive. A JUUL “starter kit,” includes an e-cigarette device, USB charger, and four JUULpods for only $50. Additional packs of four JUULpods are only $21 each.

As a lawyer TN trusts, I am offering a free legal consultation to any young person injured by the vaping epidemic creating teen addicts.

If you or a young person you know has become addicted to JUUL e-cigarettes, we can help. Call us right away for a free legal consultation if the following applies to you: you are 26 years old or younger, you are addicted to your JUUL device and unable to quit despite trying, and have experienced physical symptoms such as seizures, stroke, nicotine poisoning, heart problems, or lung problems.

When you call us, we will ask you a few short questions to get to know your case better. We will ask where you acquired your JUUL and how you first learned about it. (Please note that use of normal tobacco before JUUL addiction is a deal-breaker. But use of tobacco after JUUL addiction is okay.)

To speak with effective JUUL lawyers who can get you the justice you deserve, call us right away at (901) 327-1212 or contact us online. It would be our honor to tell you how we can help you and your family.