G Kumar’s vaping addiction peaked in college at the University of Colorado, when flavored, disposable vapes were taking off. This article is from a partnership that includes , , and KFF Health News. It can be .
“I’d go through, let’s say, 1,200 puffs in a week,” Kumar said. Vaping became a crutch for them. Like losing a cellphone, losing a vape pen would set off a mad scramble.
“It needs to be right next to my head when I fall asleep at night, and then in the morning, I have to thrash through the sheets and pick it up and find it,” Kumar recalled. They got sick often, including catching covid-19 — and vaping through all of it. Kumar, now 24, eventually quit.
But many of their generation can’t shake the habit. “Everyone knows it’s not good for you and everyone wants to stop,” said Jacob Garza, a University of Colorado student who worked to raise awareness about substance use as part of the school’s health promotion program. “But at this point, doing it all these years .
.. it’s just second nature now,” he said.
Marketing by e-cigarette companies, touting the allure of fruity or candy-like flavors and names, led many teens to try vaping. As more high schoolers and younger kids experimented with e-cigarettes, physicians and it could lead to widespread addiction, creating a “Generation Vape.” Research has shown to the brains of young people.
New data on substance use among adults ages 18-24 suggests that many former teen vapers remain e-cigarett.
