These days, vaping seems to be “trendy,” especially with teenagers. They are exposed to the idea of vaping from social media, and they think it is not harmful, which makes them feel inclined to try it. What teens do not know is that the nicotine in vapes is actually not good for you and out highly addictive because “nicotine also changes the way synapses are formed, which can harm the parts of the brain that control attention and learning.” Also, vapes were never intended for teenagers, who never had a smoking problem. They were  actually made to be a better alternative for cigarette smokers, so they can quit their unhealthy addiction, but “about 350 kids under the age of 18 become regular smokers each day.”

The vaping age should be raised to 21 because it will keep people in better health and save lives. Vaping has not been around long enough to know all the dangerous risks, but there have been some studies that show people should definitely avoid it. Researchers have found that vaping does cause serious problems like a, “newly identified lung disease that the CDC has named EVALI (the acronym stands for e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury,” which leaves patients with “symptoms ranging from cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath to fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and fever.”).

Teenagers tend to think they are invincible because they think nothing bad and harmful can happen to them, so of course they do not believe that vaping could have bad effects on them. They are in denial. Teenagers are getting hospitalized from vaping. 

“I have a friend who was hospitalized a month ago and they have to use an inhaler now,” says senior Gabriela Glende.