On average, around 2.8 million teenagers use some sort of nicotine device. Does not matter if they are patches, pouches, vapes, or cigarettes. What teenagers do not understand is how this will affect them in the future with long and short-term effects. There are more reasons why teenagers end up getting addicted to nicotine besides just using the product. There is a psychological response as to why students and adults continue to go back to nicotine due to its addictive components. 

Some short-term effects of using nicotine are coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, nausea, and vomiting. These are just a short list of the many effects that happen while vaping. People who do vape may also experience getting extremely lightheaded, and loss of vision. Early smoking is where these effects start to hit. 

The long-term effects of using nicotine are mood disorders, cardiovascular complications, increased chances of lung, throat, and gum cancer, long-term addiction, and possible death. With that, there are a lot of things to take into consideration next time the temptations of wanting to use nicotine come into play. 

A question school administrators, teachers, and parents are wondering is how and why is my child addicted to nicotine? Well, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the brain is continuing to develop which leads to nicotine becoming part of the reward system each brain has. With the frontal lobe still not developed it can lead teenagers and young adults to believe that there are no consequences to using nicotine.

In Michigan, the most popular disposable nicotine device is called a breeze. In the past year, at WHS alone the usage of nicotine devices has doubled. 

When talking to school police, Officer Novak with the Brownstown police, she stated “In the past three months I have seized around 20 vapes with 25% of those being contained with THC”

According to an article on Heart.org, there is a vast list of chemicals that most smokers do not know about. For example, Arsenic is one of the chemicals found in nicotine. With that, Arsenic has been linked to cancer in the skin, lungs, liver, and bladder. Tar is also part of the mix. With using nicotine over and over again there is going to be a buildup of mucus mixed with those deadly chemicals in the lungs. 

There are plenty of people to reach out to for help, call 1-800-662-4357, or visit SAMHSA’s website linked here. There are multiple ways to get help. Take action now and reach out. Addiction is not something that is a walk in the park, there are ups and downs and people are there to support you through it.