If you have turned on the news in the past few months, you may have noticed a rise in teen vaping awareness. Vaping has caused almost 150 hospitalized patients and several deaths over the past year. Vaping attracts teens with its e-liquid flavors, and with the high amount of nicotine inside them, it cause addiction among teens. The main problem of the issue is “Why now?”. Vaping has been on the market for years and it is now finally getting eyes on it. The United States President, Donald Trump, has recently acknowledged this issue and has talked about banning flavored e-liquid all together. The hospitalization of vapes is not caused by your local vape store; young people have been reported vaping Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cartridges the are sold under the black market. There are much bigger issues than this that require more regulation compared to vaping. Teen vaping may be on the rise, but the issue has been focused on the wrong target.
From 2017 to 2018, vaping has risen from 11.7% to 20.8% among high school students (healthline.com). The age of purchase of e-liquid in the United States is eighteen. High school students are easily able to get vapes and other products from older peers in their school. A lot of high schools seniors are of the age of eighteen. Therefore, Younger students have the ability to get vapes and other e-liquid products from other older peers. If the government wants to stop this issue, the age of purchase for vapes and e-liquids should be twenty-one. At the age of twenty-one, the majority do not have many friends that still attend high school. This makes it harder for younger users to access vapes. THC is the chemical in marijuana that gives you a high. Marijuana contains an odor that is very distinct. Teens and young adults have been recently vaping THC cartridges. They are popular among teens due to its convenience of no smell of the THC. THC cartridges do not use the same liquid as a nicotine vape. Thes...