By ADRIANNA LASKOWSKI
LITTLE FALLS- Empty boxes and small plastic sleeves pile up in the back seat of a small blue Jeep. The cup holder is filled with dozens of empty pods and Juul with a brand new pod. The glove box has two brand new packs of pods. The car, is the one place John Hamza can smoke without his parents finding out.
Hamza, 17, has been smoking Juul for two years. He started when he was 15, when a group of his friends smoked. Although not being a smoker of cigarettes before, Hamza started smoking e-cigarettes, lured to Juul’s rising popularity.
“Everyone was doing it. It seemed better than just buying a pack of cigs so I went for it,” Hamza said.
A Juul is an sleek e-cigarette mainly used by kids 12 to 17 years old. The Juul uses an regulated heating mechanism inside the device to create an easily inhaled aerosol. The mechanism prevents the batteries in the Juul from overheating and exploding. This was a huge problem for other e-cigarette brands.
Juul has no settings to adjust or control. All the device needs is a non-refillable cartridge that clicks into the Juul. The pod contains a nicotine liquid formula. This liquid is heated into vapors that are inhaled by the user. Due to the easy use of the Juul, it gained popularity among the younger demographic because it was more user-friendly and sleeker rather than a vape.
One Juul pod can contain the nicotine of 20 cigarettes. The amount of nicotine in one pod is equal to the amount of nicotine in a pack of cigarettes. This can also be estimated into about 200 puffs, according to the Juul website. The Juul is supposed to be less toxic than regular cigarettes, but e-cigarettes can make you more likely to use cigarettes since it contain toxins and nicotine, which are still just as harmful no matter the form, observers say.
According to the Truth Initiative, a group known for stopping big tobacco companies, “almost one-fifth of middle and high school students have seen JUUL used in school.” The design of the Juul is sleek and is similar to a USB drive, making it easy for teenagers to bring it into schools. The Juul also doesn’t produce a strong odor, making it easy to smoke in class or in the halls without anyone noticing it, unless they see the small cloud of smoke.
To appeal to a younger audience, Juul comes in a variety of flavors, some flavors being fruit medley, mango, cool cucumber, mint, fruit and creme. Each flavor has a different nicotine content which very few know if they don’t read the package. This endangers the younger audience since they are mainly attracted to the flavors. The majority of youth e-cigarette users think they vaped only flavoring, not nicotine.
According to the study by National Institute of Medicine, raising the minimum age to 21 nationwide could result in 250,000 fewer deaths and 45,000 fewer lung cancer deaths, among people born between 2000 and 2019. The New Jersey law went into effect November 1, 2017. The law applies heavily on e-cigarettes as well as normal tobacco products.
If anyone sells, gives or offers such products to someone younger than 21, fines will be given and further action may be taken. But it doesn’t seem to be deterring too many teens.
A person who likes mango pods has been consuming more nicotine than a person who prefers the fruit pods. This also misinforms the audience because they think if it tastes fruity or sweet it is not as bad for you as tobacco. The majority of youth e-cigarette users think they vaped only flavoring, not nicotine.
“I smoke two packs a week, so about eight pods,” Hamza said. “It’s not as bad as some people I know. They go through a pack a day sometimes. I guess it’s a stress thing. I know I just need a hit once in a while.”
“It’s easy to hide. My mom had found it a while back but thought it was a USB drive. At school, I just attach it to the charger and plug it into my laptop. No one really seems to notice it unless you smoke one,” Hamza said.
Since Juul gained popularity so quickly other brands started to pop up with similar options. Anthony Babcock, 19, smokes a Juno, the design is very similar to the Juul, however it is a bit thicker and heavier. “I have tired Juul, I just don’t like the flavors they offer. To me Juno is cheaper and has better flavors than other brands.”
To help gain control on the addictions caused by the Juul and other e-cigarette brands, New Jersey and many other states raised the smoking age from 18 to 21.
“I get they wanted to help those who just wanted to start to smoke and got addicted but like they can’t expect us to quick just like that. Like I smoke mint pods and go through two packs a week. Just quitting overnight isn’t going to help me. I would just turn to cigarettes,” Hamza said.
Many teens who saw the raise in the smoking age were offended. They had started the addiction just because it was popular, and now they need to find an alternate way to get their nicotine without having to tell their parents that they started to smoke.
“It was hard enough to get pods sometimes but now raising the age isn’t going to help. Kids are going to have to find shops that will sell without checking ID or ask others who can get them. Either way there is going to be a risk,” Babcock said.
Teens who could not find a friend to get them pods or tell their parents what they had been spending their money on turned to alternate ways to satisfy their nicotine addiction. Small corner stores in New Jersey tend to have a blind eye when it comes to their customers. They will not card underage teens when asking for certain nicotine products as long as they are getting a business.
“There is a store right by my house. I just go in ask for my flavor, pay and walk out. It takes two seconds and nothing happens,” Babcock said.
“I have my friends and some of their parents buy them for me. I just give them the money and they will get me my two packs. It gets hard since I have to hide them from my own parents but I have no other choice,” Hamza said.
Many teens who saw the raise in the smoking age were offended. They had started the addiction just because it was popular and now they need to find an alternate way to get their nicotine without having to tell their parents that they started to smoke.
“It was hard enough to get pods sometimes but now raising the age isn’t going to help. Kids are going to have to find shops that will sell without checking ID or ask others who can get them. Either way there is going to be a risk,” Babcock said.
Teens who could not find a friend to get them pods or tell their parents what they had been spending their money on turned to alternate ways to satisfy their nicotine addiction. Small corner stores in New Jersey tend to have a blind eye when it comes to their customers. They will not card underage teens when asking for certain nicotine products as long as they are getting a business. “There is a store right by my house. I just go in ask for my flavor, pay and walk out. It takes two seconds and nothing happens,” Babcock said.
Parents are just as concerned with the Juul addiction and favor the law. “These kids just don’t know what they are putting into their bodies. It’s not right and the law is only trying to help stop it,” Brianna Babcock, a concerned parent, says. Most parents like that New Jersey has raised the smoking age, but some will help their children who are already addicted to the nicotine.
“I have my friends and some of their parents buy them for me. I just give them the money and they will get me my two packs. It gets hard since I have to hide them from my own parents but I have no other choice,” Hamza said.
The law to raise the smoking age has the end goal of decreasing the number of overall illnesses and deaths caused by all types of smoking. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is difficult for consumers to know what e-cigarette products contain. They have found e-cigarettes who have stated to not have nicotine in the product do in fact contain a small trace.
The pods of a Juul contain the nicotine aerosol, some brands contain different ingredients to keep the substance more addictive. The basic ingredients are nicotine, ultrafine particles that are inhaled deep into the lungs, diacetyl, volatile organic compounds, cancer-causing chemicals, nickel, tin, and lead. Some of the ingredients are directly linked to serious lung disease. “E-cigarettes expose users to fewer harmful chemicals than burned cigarettes. But burned cigarettes are extraordinarily dangerous, killing half of all people who smoke long-term,” the CDC said.
Aside from the cancer causing and brain function side effects of smoking e-cigarettes, there is more physical effects than many learn the hard way. The battery in many e-cigarettes have become defective with overuse and over charging. This causes it to explode, sometimes alone on a desk. Sometimes the battery explodes as the person takes a drag. According to the Surgeon General, “Another risk to consider involves defective e-cigarette batteries that have been known to cause fires and explosions, some of which have resulted in serious injuries. Most of the explosions happened when the e-cigarette batteries were being charged.”
Juul is the new cigarette. It is not going away anytime soon. Young adults are finding themselves drawn to the sleek design of the Juul by choice or by peer pressure. It is gaining popularity fast and officials have yet to find a sound way to help the kids who are unknowingly now addicted to the nicotine within the small device. Juul is the new addiction.
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