Jake's Story

New York

My son Jake (an alias) as we would later learn, began to vape Juul in the summer of 2015 soon after it was introduced to the market. A friend at summer camp gave it to him. He was fourteen and a half years old at the time and going into 10th grade.

We had no idea that he was doing it at the time because it was so easily concealed. Juul’s extremely high dose of nicotine, their marketing strategies combined with the sweet favors quickly had him hooked, as we would find out. We would come across the discarded plastic sleeves from the pods occasionally and wondered what they were. In 10th grade in 2016, we noticed that his grades were slipping; he was a high B student in 9th grade. He was having a very hard time getting up for school. He was staying up late way too late at night. He was starting to miss a few days of school a month at this point. We had engaged a therapist and psychiatrist to see what was going on. He was attending a strict large parochial school and we decided to switch him to a small private school in the neighborhood, thinking that a smaller environment would help his attendance and overall well being.

At his new school, things deteriorated in a short amount of time. The stress on the family was incomprehensible. He was constantly late for school and his grades were on a steep decline. At his point, we had found and threw out his Juul device many times. Another one would always pop up and he had it with him at all times. He was stealing money to pay for Juul pods. We took to hiding our wallets and not giving him any money. We had his pediatrician speak to him about the dangers of nicotine on a developing brain and effects on the health of his lungs. He would often complain of lung pain and congestion. Fear for his health, he would occasionally stop vaping Juul but he would always pick it up again. He was getting more and more depressed. We did not know what to do with him nor did we know the severity of his addiction. At Christmas break in early 2017, we brought him voluntarily to Silver Hill treatment facility in New Caanan, CT. When we were checking him in, he became extremely agitated when he had to give up his Juul device. He refused at first, but eventually relented after two trips to the bathroom to use it. When we visited him on Christmas Day, which he spent there (extremely sad), he pleaded with us to give him back his Juul device. He spent two plus weeks at Silver Hill and they prescribed him nicotine gum. He was diagnosed with nicotine addiction, marijuana use and depression. His psychiatrist described Jake, with him present, as “a train speeding down the tracks about to go off a cliff.”

Once home, he again went straight to vaping Juul. In the second half of 2017, he began missing more school, staying up late and sleeping half the day. We hired a company called Cognition Builders to come in and help him get up in the morning. A drill sergeant type would come in and rouse him. This worked for a while until he realized that he didn’t have to listen to them either. His school refused to let him come into school late any longer. If he was late, he was not permitted in. This made things worse because him missed more school. The prime reason for missing school was that he was vaping Juul all night and too stimulated to get to sleep. By the end of 11th grade, Jake has missed 40 days and had failed 2 classes with a D in a 3rd. The family home life was terrible, Jake was agitated most of the time and there were constant arguments. He had no plans for the summer and was not willing to commit to anything.

On the advice of his psychiatrist and therapist, we decided to send him to a wilderness program in Colorado for two months. He was taken there forcibly at 1am in the morning but two men that entered his bedroom. At wilderness with no possessions, he camped, hiked and had therapy sessions with trained professionals. He was forced to quit Juul and confront his abuse of it, as well as his use of marijuana. The treatment was successful but he came to realize that he now totally craved nicotine. He said that nicotine was the one thing that he could not stop nor put out of his mind.

From wilderness, we were advised that he should not go straight home to the environment and temptations that caused his problems to begin with. We enrolled him in a therapeutic boarding school in Montana, which was school but also a treatment facility. Everything was strictly monitored and he had no access to any contraband. He attended regular therapy sessions and repeated the 11th grade classes that he failed. He spent almost twelve months there. He missed his senior year with his friends in NYC and was completely uprooted. For the most part, luckily the treatment and therapy worked for Jake. He gained a new perspective and was able to bring his grades up and begin college preparation. He was accepted to a reputable college for January 2020. This is not to say that all of this was not extremely difficult for him and that it has also left him seriously scarred. He has had to live with and explain why he was taken out of NYC for over a year and two months.

He is currently taking a semester off working an internship before beginning college, a semester later then all of his friends.

Coming home, after a year of being completely sober and nicotine free, he picked up doing Juul again. He is nineteen now and he again has stated that Juul and nicotine is the one thing that is impossible for him to quit.

We estimate that his treatment, wilderness, therapeutic boarding school, and the missed year of 11th grade has cost the family $250,000 and while he is better, Jake will admit as of today that he is still using and addicted to Juul. This is not to speak of the unknown long-term health effects. We blame Juul, in large part, for Jake’s missed years and a majority of his problems.