Sickly sweet e-cig warning
THERE’S NOTHING sweet about kid-friendly e-cigarettes that taste like candy, say addicted teens.
And now a group of the hooked generation is partnering with Sen. Chuck Schumer to urge the federal government to ban them.
In a video, “Juulers Against Juul,” which was released Thursday, students at Scarsdale High School in Westchester County shared their stories of addiction to the popular e-cigarette.
Jack Solomon was in eighth grade when an older student passed a Juul to him for the first time.
“It was very uncomfortable and I didn’t really like the feeling of it,” Jack, 15, recalled. “But then all my friends began using it and everyone started introducing it to each other and we just thought it was OK to use it.”
The teen quickly became hooked on the flavors — mango, mint and creme brulee — and found himself grabbing the device, which looks like a USB stick — for a smoke whenever he was feeling stressed.
“It’s hard to keep away because it’s so easy to access them. It’s like a crazy craving that you can’t help,” he said.
Stories like Jack’s prompted Schumer (D-N.Y.) to write to the Food and Drug Administration demanding that the agency stop the health crisis.
In the letter released Sunday, Schumer cited a recent study by a coalition of top health organizations that found “an alarming level of Juul use in middle and high schools.”
“While the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes remain unclear, public health professions have significant concerns about the immediate harmful effects of ecigarettes on children’s developing brains and bodies,” the Senate minority leader wrote.
“The use of e-cigarettes among children is rising at a booming rate, and the FDA must act swiftly to stem the tide,” he added.
Sam Friedman, a Scarsdale sophomore who directed the video, hopes the campaign will open eyes to kids’ growing dependency.
“It’s more than a physical addiction. It’s a social addiction, too. It’s the cool thing to do. That’s the hard part about quitting,” Sam, 16, said.
E-cigarettes like Juul use flavored pods to deliver nicotine more easily.
In 2016, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 2 million middle and high school students had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days.