Vaping Dangers For Young Smokers

Vaping may cause as much damage to your cardiovascular system as cigarette smoking. That according to a study this week from the American Heart Association.

Smith County Drug Prevention Coalition Prevention Coordinator Mary Leslie Wakefield said that makes getting young people to stop vaping a priority.

“The nicotine content in those little pods, like juul pods, one pod is equal to a pack of cigarettes and kids don’t realize that,” Wakefield said. “Also how they advertise them with fruit flavors like banana and strawberry-they just don’t realize the harm that’s in the vape.”

Some students as young as middle school have picked up vaping. The younger someone starts smoking, the higher the risk of addiction. Wakefield said educating students and parents about the dangers can help reduce users.

Wakefield said the vape is actually an aerosol which breaks down the nicotine and vape chemicals into microparticles.

“Those microparticles can get really deep into lung tissues,” Wakefield said. “The scary thing about that is there’s just now doing studies on all that, so we don’t know the long term damage those kind of particles are going to do. Especially to growing, developing, adolescent lungs.”