By Liv Thomson

The Facts

Vaping is illegal for people under the age of 18, but it’s becoming increasingly prevalent among young people. This is particularly true for those who have never even smoked a cigarette before. Recent statistics have revealed that the number of 11 to 17 year olds using vapes has tripled in the last few years, to 20.5%. Health experts have referred to this uptake in vaping as an “epidemic“; even though vaping is hailed as typically less harmful than traditional smoking, the risks are still substantial, especially for young people.

Vaping in Schools

There are systems in place to tackle the rise of vaping in schools. VapeGuardian is one of these.

VapeGuardian is a company whose system is dedicated to the detection of vaping in schools. Simon Hasset, the business founder, says that the inception of such a system “quickly became really important” to both him and his wife, VapeGuardian co-founder Jean Hasset, as they “have four children”. VapeGuardian is, therefore, a passion project for them, to protect children like theirs.

Hasset also impresses that detection of vaping in schools is crucial to deterring young people from falling victim to the trend, but also says that the sale of vapes to school children is a worrying trend. The government are cracking down on the minority of “rogue” shops which are partaking in these illegal transactions.

The Potential Health Effects

The potential health effects associated with vaping are becoming more well-known, but are still fully revealing themselves. Gayle, a Lanarkshire-based intensive care nurse, has described an experience where she treated a patient for “popcorn lung”, which is thought to be a side effect of vaping. This condition damages your lungs, making it difficult to breathe properly.

What’s Next?

“It doesn’t look hopeful.”

Simon Hasset, Founder of VapeGuardian

Vaping was initially introduced to act as a stepping stone for quitting smoking, and now more people are vaping than ever.

18-year-old Kyle has been vaping for over a year, because of how “popular” it was becoming among his friends at school, and how “easy they were to get”. When asked how many disposable vapes he gets through in an average week, he replied: “5 or 6”. Now, young people like Kyle are faced with the same problem of quitting something they’re addicted to, but how easy is that? He said that he “probably would quit” if he had to.

Kyle’s experience begs the question: is vaping a habit that can be easily broken? And is enough being done to protect young people from the latest craze?

Featured image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.