E-CIGARETTES: A Rise in Use Among Teens

by Leah Thomas, MBS 2020, GCSoM
mentor: Elizabeth Kuchinski

Current Info on E-Cigarettes

Years of work by researchers and doctors on the health effects of cigarette use has led to a change both in the United States’ and the world’s view on the harms of smoking. Sadly, this work is at the point of being ruined because of the rise of e-cigarettes, ever since they were officially released in 2003. A rise in e-cigarette use worries me because it might mean a resulting rise in cigarette use. I think this might happen because most e-liquids that are used for e-cigarette devices have nicotine in them, which we know is very addictive. While e-cigarette devices come in many different forms, the basic design has a compartment that holds the e-liquid and a part that heats up the e-liquid to make a vapor, which the user breathes in. E-cigarette use has seen a shocking 78% jump among teens between the years 2017 and 2018. Since e-cigarettes are a quite new invention, there is still much more research to be done so that we can fully understand e-cigarettes. Without much data to look to, it is common to come across very different opinions from those around us on the harms connected to e-cigarette use.


Marketed Use of E-Cigarettes
E-cigarettes were originally made to be a tool that cigarette users could use to help them in quitting smoking. However, walk onto any college campus today and you will definitely find an e-cigarette user that had not already been a cigarette
smoker. Many blame e-cigarette companies for this, because their ads seem to target younger people. With seemingly endless options of flavors, sleek and stylish design, and colorful ads that can be found on many social media platforms, at first glance, this looks like a product made specially for teens and young adults.

Rise in Teen Use and Views of E-Cigarettes

How teens view e-cigarettes versus cigarettes is important to look into. Most teenagers do not know that about 99% of e-liquids that are currently on the market contain nicotine. This should worry you not only because of the risk for teens to gain a nicotine addiction at a young age, but also because of the effects that nicotine has on the developing teenage mind.

1. Brain Development
The prefrontal cortex is part of the brain that is still finishing its development up until the age of 25. For this reason, a flood of nicotine into the body of a teenager can trigger changes to happen in the brain. The “high” that happens in the body after nicotine use may cause the body to lower its own release of feel good chemicals like dopamine in order to make up for the rush that happens. After getting hooked on nicotine and feeling like they depend on it, teens can go through anxiety and depression.

2. Behavior Changes
The part of the brain that is still developing in teens and young adults is the part in charge of focus and impulsive behavior. Nicotine has been shown to have a negative effect on these areas in animal trials, but more studies need to be done for us to connect this result to humans.

3. Long-Term Impacts of E-Cigarette Use
The long-term effects of continued e-cigarette use is an area of high concern but is still being researched. However, out of the research that has been put out so far, e-cigarette use by teens has been connected to picking up the habit of smoking at an earlier age compared to non-e-cigarette users. One study found that e-cigarette use at a young age was connected to cigarette use later on in life. Another interesting
piece of data I found seems to oppose the very purpose of e-cigarettes. The data showed that while e-cigarettes helped current smokers in a study quit smoking, they actually led to a relapse in smoking in a group of people that used to be smokers. This makes us question whether e-cigarettes are really a helpful tool, or if they actually end up dumping users into a vicious cycle of quitting and relapse at the price of the user’s health and well-being.

The Future of E-Cigarettes
Thankfully, steps have been taken to lower the possible negative effects of e-cigarette use. This includes laws that place heavier control on the sale of e-cigarettes, and laws that stop companies from targeting young people (e.g. flavors
and advertisements). It is clear that more research needs to be done to more completely understand e-cigarettes, and before more is known, action needs to be taken to keep these devices away from teenagers, who are most sensitive to their negative effects.