Did you know that a lot of people die annually because of smoking cigarettes? Based on the statistics posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1,300 smokers die every day. Furthermore, it is expected that about 5.6 million youths today, aged 18 years and younger, will die prematurely because of the complications of smoking in the future.
Because of this alarming truth, more and more people decide to quit smoking. One of the ways that could help them do that is by switching to vape or e-cigarettes.
Unfortunately, not all people who are using vape today are those that are interested to quit smoking for good. There are still a lot of them who are using vape just for fun. Most of them are teens, who are aged less than 18 years.
E-cigarettes are actually illegal for teens to use. Unfortunately, the government's restriction doesn't seem to stop some youngsters to be addicted to it. Recent data showed that while about 8% of high school youth are smoking cigarettes, more than 20% of them are already addicted to vape.
The increasing rate of vape addiction among teens left a lot of parents worried about what will happen to their children. One of them is Jami Scheetz, the mother of 15-year-old Devon who is also addicted to vaping. It was just during the last fall when her child faced a lot of troubles in school because of his addiction and became desperate enough to ask his mother, "Mom, I can't quit on my own. I need help." At this rate, experts say the trend that concerns kids and e-cigarettes could become more prevalent in the years to come.
Unfortunately, as more and more teens get addicted to vaping, parents like Scheetz can't help but feel depressed and disappointed with how resources, which could possibly help treat their children's dependence, are scarce. There are still no specific findings that could directly address and treat their children's situation, as reported by TIME.
"It's frustrating. It's an epidemic because there's no help," says Scheetz. "The only way to fight the epidemic is to help and treat them because it is an addiction."
Donna Richardson, the clinical coordinator of the Rutgers Tobacco Dependence Program, agrees with Scheetz saying how it is almost impossible to treat children who are addicted to vaping now. Not because the experts don't want to, but because of how limited the resources are. "There are no treatment guidelines yet for these products", Richardson explains.
Meanwhile, due to its increasing demand and need, parents and experts are now working for hand and hand on what they can do to end the problem. This is until new resources become available soon.
