Vaping is often marketed as a safer alternative to smoking, but the truth is far more dangerous than you might think! Behind the clouds of flavoured vapor are serious health risks that can impact your lungs, heart, and brain. Don’t be fooled by flashy ads and sweet flavours: vaping leads to addiction, long-term health problems, and life-threatening conditions. Before you take a puff, learn the facts and protect your future.
WHAT IS VAPING?
E-cigarettes (or vapes) are special electronic devices that people use to breathe in a cloud called vapor. They are made up of three main parts:
Battery – This gives power to the e-cigarette.
Heater (Atomizer) – This part heats up the liquid.
Liquid Holder (Cartridge) – This holds the liquid, which usually has nicotine, flavours, and other ingredients.
When someone uses an e-cigarette, the battery heats the liquid. The liquid turns into a vapor, which the person breathes in. It looks and feels like smoking a regular cigarette, but it doesn’t burn tobacco.
TARGETS CHILDREN
Children and teenagers are often chosen as targets by vaping companies. That’s because if someone starts using nicotine before they turn 21, they are more likely to stay addicted for the rest of their life.
The World Health Organization says that vaping companies try to get young people vaping by:
Sponsoring music festivals
Using fun and exciting ads on social media
Making vape products with fruity or sweet flavours
Using bright colours and cartoon pictures on their products
These tricks are meant to make vaping look cool or fun, especially to young people.
NOT A SAFE OPTION
Some people say vaping is better than smoking or that it helps people stop smoking. But vaping is still not safe as the health effects of vaping can be irreversible and sometimes deadly.
VAPING VS. CIGARETTES
Both smoking and vaping are harmful to your health. Scientists are still learning about how vaping affects the body over a long time, but they already know it is not safe. The liquid used in vapes can be very dangerous. It can hurt adults and children if they swallow it, breathe it in, or even get it on their skin. Vaping puts harmful things like dangerous chemicals, heavy metals, and poisons into the lungs.
NICOTINE
E-cigarettes have a lot of nicotine in them, which is a chemical that slows down brain growth in children and teenagers. Nicotine is very addictive, which means if someone who doesn’t smoke cigarettes starts vaping, they could get hooked on nicotine and find it hard to stop. They might even start smoking regular cigarettes. Some e-cigarettes let people control how much nicotine they inhale, and sometimes it can be set to dangerous levels.
SECONDHAND SMOKE
When someone vapes, it creates a cloud of tiny particles in the air. This cloud has nicotine and other harmful chemicals in it. People who are close to the person vaping are also affected by breathing in these particles, even if they’re not vaping themselves.
DAMAGES THE LUNGS
E-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) is a new phenomenon that occurs because of vaping. Most cases occur due to vaping products that contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which comes from dagga, which are easily available.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by early 2020, there had been around 2,800 cases of EVALI in the United States, with 68 of those resulting in death. (“Vaping vs. smoking: Long-term effects, benefits, and risks”)
DRUG ABUSE
Dangerous drugs, like dagga, LSD, GHB, and ketamine, can be smoked in vaping devices. A group of scientists studied college students who use e-cigarettes. They asked 1,542 students if they had ever vaped anything other than nicotine. About 7 out of every 100 students said they had.
Some people think vaping is safer than smoking. Because of this, they might wrongly believe that vaping dangerous drugs is also a safer method. But this is not true as using any of these drugs is still dangerous and very harmful.
VAPING OF DAGGA DERIVED PRODUCTS
Dagga products that people use for vaping are common. Dagga oil, distillate (a strong liquid made from dagga), and dagga resin are all available in cartridges that can be used with vaping devices or pens that look like e-cigarettes. The oil, liquid or resin inside turns into a vapor that people breathe in when heated.
Vaping cartridges have extremely high levels of THC. Some cartridges contain THC concentrations of 70% to 95%, which is much higher than what is found in natural cannabis flower (which usually has around 15% to 25% THC). These high-THC vape cartridges can cause very strong effects, especially for new users or young people, and increase the risk of mental illnesses such as panic attacks, anxiety and schizophrenia and cause problems with memory, thinking and mood.
RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH VAPING
Damage to the lungs
Release of free radicals, which promote cancer development, into the body
Weakens the immune system
Delays brain development in children and teenagers
Being burnt when recharging e-cigarettes due to defective batteries leading to explosions
Nicotine addiction
Addiction to dagga, LSD, ketamine or other drugs
Mental illness
