We’re two freshman students at Eagle Valley High School and as part of our final in health we have looked into the effects of teen vaping use in Eagle County as well as Colorado as a whole. We want to share our unique opinion from a high schooler’s point of view to show how vaping may be hurting your teen. While researching we found a staggering fact from a study done in Colorado by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found “around 25% of students are currently using an e-cigarette such as a JUUL” To put in perspective, Eagle Valley High School has around 1,000 students, and if these figures are correct, that means around 250 kids in just one high school use vape products. And that’s only the students who care to admit that they use vapes.
There are also the serious health effects that come with the use of e-cigarettes. A study by Yale Medicine states that “nicotine can interfere with memory and attention processing.” This would cause short- and long-term effects, especially after the repetition of nicotine consumption. A JUUL pod contains 40 mg of nicotine, similar to a whole entire pack of cigarettes, which means teens are very likely to become addicted to JUULing. Research further states the e-cigarette use can lead to the use of real cigarettes which contain more than 6,000 chemicals.
This is a problem, but, we can do something to prevent it from continuing to spread. The basis of every problem is not knowing the effects it causes. If everyone reading this letter spreads the information we could raise a lot of awareness in our community. Having everybody know what they are getting themselves into can be very effective, as many do not know the negative impacts of e-cigarettes. If you think someone else or yourself is addicted to e-cigarettes there are many places in Eagle County that can help you out, one of which is the Foundary Treatment Center in Vail. You can contact them at 855-695-9316. There is also many other places that you can find at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/treatment-rehab/co/eagle-county . Share this information with your kids, your friends, and family, because it will help them realize that the vaping does not help you, it hurts you, and in the long run, they may save themselves from a lot of harm.
Arden Houck and Dani Pope
