Underage Vaping: Why Vaping is Not Necessarily A Gateway to Smoking

Those who oppose vaping and see it as a threat to teens commonly cite that ecigarette companies market to children by offering ejuice flavours that appeal to young people. But think about this – how different are the flavours for ecigarettes from those offered by liquor companies?

Alcohol is available in hundreds of different flavours that could conceivably be appealing to children. Just because ecigarette companies offer appealing flavours does not mean they are marketed to kids, or that we are enticing them to try vaping. Adults enjoy having a variety of ejuice flavours to choose from. Being able to vary the vaping experience is part of what makes it so great.

No matter which side of the debate you’re on, our stance on underage vaping is clear:

If you are younger than legal smoking age in your area, then you should not be vaping, and we don’t want your business.

Ecigarettes are for adults. However, much like alcohol, cigarettes, and anything else that young people find interesting, they can and will get their hands on it if they want to. This is the nature of youth society. This also means that vaping companies, parents and fellow vapers have the responsibility to educate children and work collaboratively to prevent underage vaping.

Vaping Is Not a Gateway to Smoking

Many people assume that vaping is a gateway to smoking. However, a recent study found this not to be the case:

• Researchers surveyed 1,300 college students
• 43 students said their first nicotine product was an ecigarette
• Only one person of the 43 went on to smoke cigarettes regularly
• The overwhelming majority who started with ecigs are not currently using any nicotine or tobacco product

Only 43 of 1,300 chose to try ecigs over traditional cigarettes as their first nicotine experience, and only one smokes cigarettes regularly – hardly a gateway to smoking. But the important thing to note is that youth are still vaping underage, and this needs to be addressed.

What Can We Do to Prevent Underage Vaping?

• Educate children about the risks
• Make it clear to kids that vaping is for adults only
• Keep ecigs out of reach of children
• Avoid vaping around kids and teens – they tend to mimic the habits of their parents

From an industry perspective, ecig companies need to work together to ensure underage kids cannot get their hands on ecigarettes. This will help us take the next step towards mainstream legitimization. All it takes is for one company or store owner to get caught selling ecigs to teens to give our entire industry a bad name. So we at Vapor Jedi want to be clear again:

Vaping is for adults only. We will not serve anyone under the legal smoking age in their area.

Do you have kids at home? What steps do you think we should take to keep ecigs out of the hands of teens and prevent use?

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