“Vaping” is so 2017. The new best thing is called “Juul” and all the kids are doing it.
Chase Wiley, a sophomore at Seminole High School, sees his peers “Juuling” all of the time.
“Sometimes you walk into the bathroom. There’s a group of people and look at you weird, to try and ya know, use the restroom, and it’s just crazy,” Wiley said.
Like other vape devices, a Juul is a brand of e-cigarette that comes in cool flavors like mint, fruit medley and creme, but they’re less bulky and don’t spew clouds of vapor into the air.
“So now they’re back down from this size to this size. It’s a big, big difference,” said Leo Calzadilla, owner of Purple Haze.
He showed the size difference between vapor products of just a few years ago to Juuls.
Juuls actually plug into a laptop or any USB port to charge up their battery.
You pop on a pod and puff away.
“It flies off the shelf,” said Calzadilla.
He explained that Juuls come with a pre-set, 5-percent nicotine content. That’s the ingredient that can get you hooked. He won’t sell to anyone under 18.
“Definitely not. This is not meant for a 12-year-old, not a 13-year-old, not a 14-year-old,” he insisted.
Another Seminole High School student who didn’t want us to identify him, began and ended his addiction to Juuling over the past two months.
“Didn’t like having to spend the money on the pods and and I didn’t like being addicted,” he said.
“A lot of people at school were doing it and I just wanted to try it. And I kind of got hooked on it ’cause a lot of my friends did it,” he said.
The student never vaped before and doesn’t smoke. But the lure of Juuling was too much to pass up.
“It kind of chilled your body. It’s kind of like, when you’re really stressed out about something, you’re frantic, you’re moving a lot, it just calms you down,” he said.
While some pass off Juuling as a safe alternative to smoking, a Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Pulmonologist says don’t believe it.
“As a lung doctor, I have concern about people inhaling anything that doesn’t belong there,” said Dr. Tony Kriseman.
Dr. Kriseman is concerned, not only about the nicotine, but the other ingredients in Juuls.
Add in users with developing young brains and his worry level goes up.
“Were talking about kids who, in theory, shouldn’t already be tobacco smokers. So having them start on an addictive substance, which nicotine is, is not a great idea,” said Dr. Kriseman.
Students who “Juul” can easily conceal the device.
“You can keep it in your pocket. You can walk around school. Ya know, it’s really tiny. You can keep it in a wallet and all sorts of different things. It’s really easy to hide,” said Wiley.
There are certainly health risks.
“Each pod is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes,” said Calzadilla.
Older students have found a way to make a quick buck.
“They’re buying these and then selling them to their friends. So that’s where the problem starts to happen,” he said.
The formerly-addicted student is happy he quit Juuling.
“There’s times where everybody’s doing it and you’re the only one not, but in the long run, it’s better.”
Juul Labs says it “strongly condemns the use of its products by minors” — and is working with lawmakers and school leaders to address the problem.
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