Juliana's Story

Kristen, New Jersey

In 2017, when my daughter was a freshman in high school, I checked her social media accounts with great frequency. I began to notice tons of kids mentioning Juul and posting photos of themselves vaping. I didn't really know what it was so I did research and I found out what a Juul and vaping was. I thought, "If there are this many kids posting images and mentioning vaping in the very small sampling that I'm looking at, how huge must this problem be? Imagine all the kids who aren't posting about it, and all the kids in other circles who must be doing it too!" And, I also thought, "This is going to be the next big health epidemic in our society."

We diligently talked to our daughter about the risks, about staying away from it. I could see that lots of her friends and classmates were vaping and I wondered if I should let their parents know--but I didn't have that kind of relationship with most of them (she was not at a high school with the kids she went to elementary and middle school with) and I also thought that they could be looking at social media in the same way I did to discover what was happening there. I felt a bit helpless. It was actually astounding to me that kids were so openly posting so much information (e.g. videos of themselves being pressured by others to try it and then expressing how hooked they are; kids making comments like "How could not having a stupid small black stick with me make me so moody."). These were indicators to me that the kids were really struggling with the addiction--already. I made my daughter's school aware of what I was seeing and sent them articles. The school sent information to parents and I think addressed vaping in some way at school, but I continued to see posts on social media.

At some point, I went sleuthing and found photos of my daughter vaping. As my husband and I pondered how to handle this with her, we were surprised when one day she actually told me that she had tried it and she didn't like it. We were so glad that she had told us. We continued our efforts of talking about it and sharing the risks with her.

A couple of years later, there were reports of all the people who got sick from vaping "tainted" vapes. That provided an opportunity for further discussion and warnings about the many risks. And then congress finally passed a bill limiting Juul's sales of flavored vapes and it seemed like there was some movement toward dealing with this crisis on a national level. I felt great personal relief when that happened. While I didn't think our daughter had been vaping, I wasn't completely certain. Then I saw a conversation with a friend of hers who remarked something about how my daughter “was doing better than most of her peers by not vaping." I felt great personal relief to hear this.

We felt very lucky that our daughter had gotten through her high school years without vaping. It felt like she and everyone in her generation was just a bunch of guinea pigs, going through a grand experiment in real time; an experiment that we all know is likely to have terrible outcomes in several years, just like smoking was discovered to have so many awful effects years after hoards had become addicted.

And then, my daughter went off to her freshman year in college in 2020. It was a crazy and stressful year to be a freshman, with no sense of normalcy. I was not watching social media the way I had been in her earlier years but I did see some photos with a kid or 2 holding a vape. And then she came home for her Thanksgiving break, which would last until January. A few days after she got home, I looked in her drawer and found a box and wrapper from a vape--Puffs Plus. I was very upset about it and pondered what to do. I started doing research again and, although most of the information I could find was on vaping sites. I did learn that when congress passed the laws against flavored vapes in 2019, they had left a giant loophole available to vaping companies: disposable vapes could still be sold in flavors. I saw that the company that made Puffs Plus, had started with a tiny disposable vape called Puff Bar. No where was there information on when they had started being sold or by whom. I discovered that while it had been ordered off the market in the summer, it was still on their website. I found that it contains 800 hits--the company website brags about getting around federal regulations: "The best part? Puff Bar still stands up in the face of the recent changes to federal regulations." It also touts how long-lasting it is and that it contains the same amount of nicotine that is in more than 2 packs of cigarettes. From the website: "WHAT IS A PUFF BAR EQUIVALENT TO? The 300 hits you get from your Original Puff Bar are equivalent to one pack of 20 cigarettes. One Puff Bar Plus, which gives you around 800 hits, is equivalent to more than two packs of cigarettes." And my guess is that it's even more than that, because my understanding is that the delivery systems for nicotine in vapes are far more efficient than in cigarettes. There are also other products on the PUFF site: Puff XXL, Puff Flow and Puff Nano.

I found another Puff Plus in my daughter's room one morning and we asked her about it. She told us it was her friend's. We told her about finding the other one and that we didn't believe that it belonged to a friend. She threw it away. We talked about it and she told us that "everyone" at school smokes. We talked about being there to support her in quitting. She still denied it was a problem. She told us that she had tried it a few times, but never admitted to actually smoking regularly. We kept up the conversations, reiterating big tobacco's efforts to get kids hooked, emphasizing nicotine's effects on brain development, and discussing the unknown health risks of vaping, and assuring her that we would support her in any way necessary to help her not smoke. I found more devices during her many weeks home, and then I didn't find any more. I do not know if she was better at hiding them or if she actually tried to stop and had some success at that. I would like to believe she tried to stop, but I know how addictive nicotine is and that you don't just stop because you want to. I really don't know. A couple of weeks before she went back to college, we started talking about how hard it would be if everyone around her is vaping if she didn't want to. She assured us of her will power (still never admitting to being addicted). She went back to school and we are certain that she is vaping regularly. We see withdrawals from her bank account in fairly consistent amounts, with regularity. I've seen photos of 2 of her 3 roommates as well as other students with Puffs in their hands. She is right that it does seem like "everyone" is doing it, at least everyone in her social realm, and I can't imagine being able to withstand that pressure.

When I walk into convenience stores I see their shelves lined with brightly colored Puff products. I know they aren't the only company out there still pushing flavored vapes either. It makes me feel utterly helpless. I’m so upset for my daughter and also for this entire generation of kids who is addicted. I do not know what their futures will hold in terms of their health and well-being. As a parent, there are so many issues to deal with and so many incredible challenges and concerns. Discovering that my child was vaping is actually one of the things I have dreaded the most, and it has come to fruition. It is on my mind constantly.

In 2017 when I saw those social media posts of kids Juuling, I thought "This is going to be the next big health epidemic in our society." Now, I say "No, it IS the next big health epidemic in our society."