Vaping in Colorado

So far I have been looking at the magnitude of the vaping epidemic, whether it be looking at it on a local level or a national level. And what I've found has cemented the idea that vaping is an incredibly large problem no matter where you look. It is important now to look at why this is such a prominent issue, as there has to be a reason for the explosion in popularity of vaping products. In fact, there are three main reasons (the marketing of vape companies, teenage behavior, and the properties of vape products) why vaping is as big of a problem as it currently is.   Let's first discuss how vaping companies market to teens and how that contributes to the current epidemic of vaping. While vaping companies do not explicitly advertise to children and teenagers, they target them through the flavoring of their vape products. Vape companies typically advertise “fun” candy-flavored e-cigarettes that attract kids, just as flavored cigarettes did. In the past, in order to broaden t

In my previous post, I discussed what the issue of teen vaping looks like inside of a wealthy, Coloradan suburb. What I found was shocking, with over one in three students having used a vaping product, and over 40% of those students using a vape product more than once a day. In this post, I will expand my view and look at the issue of vaping on a holistic, national scale in order to compare the issues on a local scale versus a national scale. To start, it is important to recognize how quickly vaping has become an issue on the national stage. 1.7 million high school students reported using a vape product in the past 30 days. Organizations like the FDA and CNN are calling it an "epidemic" with rates of usage absolutely skyrocketing over the past few years in all parts across the country. In fact, in 2013, nearly three times as many U.S. high school kids smoked as puffed on electronic cigarettes. Within two short years, that trend has reversed. Today, almost twice as many high s

When looking at teens and drug use, the question has to be asked: How bad is this problem? Drugs are obviously a part of high school, so is vaping really that much different? Isn't it just another minor, self-correcting problem? And these are valid questions. Vaping, health wise, isn't as bad as smoking, or other hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. When we look to the issue of vaping, however, we see that the issue of vaping doesn't lie in its effects on one person. It lies in how widespread it is. To examine this, I created a survey designed to diagnose how serious the vaping epidemic was at Mountain Vista. This survey was designed to be representative for the entire school (population ~ 2400) with an approximate error bound of ±7%, meaning that the results are representative for the entire school within a range of 7% (either higher or lower). The first question I asked on this survey was simple. It asked "Have you ever vaped or used products similar to 'Juul&

Hello! This is a blog to post the findings of my research over the next few months with regards to teen vaping. I will also be posting my actions and what I gather from those, whether it be surveys, interviews with those committed to raising awareness on vaping, or interactions with those at my school. Let's start with a little information about me. I am currently a junior at Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The reason I am pursuing this project is twofold. First, I want to make a difference in the community. My school offers a lot of community service opportunities, but none of them are meaningful, creative, or have long lasting implications. By pursuing this brand of community service, I would be actively creating a change in the community. Secondly, the issue of teen vaping is incredibly prominent in Colorado, and most likely everywhere. Every time I go to the bathroom, I see kids hanging out and vaping. At this point, it has become entrenched in the