HOUSTON — It’s being called an epidemic among teens.
The use of electronic cigarettes is skyrocketing.
The Food and Drug Administration estimates more than 2 million middle and high schoolers used e-cigarettes in 2017.
It makes e-cigs and other vapes the most commonly used tobacco products out there.
Spring Branch Independent School District allowed us to talk to students at Memorial High School with permission from their parents. However, this is a problem taking place at every school in the country.
Right off the bat, six students were open and honest about vaping.
“You can do it right behind somebody and they wouldn’t know," said senior Barrett Dodson.
“Honestly, wherever there’s not an adult watching, you’ll see it," said Will Coolidge, a junior at Memorial High School.
“It’s just so easy to access them,” said senior Katherine Maykopet. “If you want one, you can get them. You know someone that can get them.”
Half the students admitted to trying e-cigs or vaping on a regular basis.
“Someone just, like, offered it to me and I was like, ‘Why not? Once won’t hurt,'" said junior Ava Lahijani.
Rachel Royster is in the 11th grade. She said it’s a problem everywhere.
“I have friends, like, all over the city, and they all say if you go into the bathroom, you’re going to see it," she said.
Dodson agrees.
“I see it all the time. In the bathrooms. Sometimes in the classrooms," he said.
“I’ve seen kids hit it in class, blow the smoke out in your shirt and, like, it goes away in about five seconds," Coolidge said.
The students who admitted to trying e-cigs did it out of curiosity.
“A lot of people think that it’s like a certain group of people, but it’s everybody," said junior Andrew Peterson. "Some of my smartest friends have done this stuff pretty regularly.”
“If you look at the amount of stress like high schoolers are under right now, it’s crazy," Maykopet said. "We don’t sleep. It kind of makes sense why kids are like reverting to these kind of coping mechanisms.”
“I think it’s definitely also something that people go to kind of ease themselves,” Royster said.
The group said the flavors available for e-cigarettes drive them to try it.
“Why wouldn’t you be curious like what does a mango nicotine going to taste like?” Royster said.
“I think it’s just the appeal of being like rebellious. Every generation has their thing, and this is just our generation's thing," Maykopet said.
The most popular e-cigarette kids said are Juuls.
“Juul themselves know that they’re trying to target to teens. Like, the way they advertise and the way they try to normalize it. The way they name their flavors," Lahijani said.
Coolidge said Juul is more of the delicacy of vaping at the moment.
A Juul heats up pods filled with oils that are inhaled and resemble a USB drive.
“This year we all got Chrome books given out by the school, so that’s a source of charge with the USB port, so I see kids in class," Coolidge said. "Like, I look over, and it’s like they're just charging their Juul. It’s pretty normal.”
A single Juul pod contains nicotine equal to a pack of cigarettes along with other chemicals.
The aerosol that’s exhaled also contains harmful substances.
Students admit teachers are trying to help.
“They genuinely care," Maykopet said. "I do think that they want us to stop but that’s not what is going to get us to stop. It’s probably going to be our peers saying like, ‘Dude chill. You got this. You don’t have to do this. You’re fine.’”
The students interviewed are working on projects like videos and newspaper articles to raise awareness about the issue.
“It gets the word out that they’re realizing that it’s bad for them, and it gives other students hope that if they’re addicted to nicotine, it’s OK. They can get off of that," Royster said.
It’s an uphill battle they know is not going to be won overnight.
“I feel like there’s just a lot of people are really quick to just condemn our generation for this epidemic, and it is a problem, but there are a lot of other problems that are maybe like pushing this epidemic farther," Maykopet said.
A spokesperson with Juul issued the following statement:
"JUUL is intended for current adult smokers only. We cannot be more emphatic on this point: no young person or non-nicotine user should ever try JUUL. Underage use of JUUL and any other vaping products is completely unacceptable to us and is directly opposed to our mission of eliminating cigarettes by offering existing adult smokers a true alternative to combustible cigarettes. We stand committed to working with those who want to keep nicotine products out of the hands of young people."