Kids smoking in the school bathrooms isn’t a new concept, it’s a tale as old as time. However, most kids don’t understand the dangers of smoking at such a young age.
One of the best examples of this danger would be none other than early cardiovascular damage, or better known as heart disease; early cardiovascular damage results in high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol.
Now that’s just what it does to someone’s heart, not to mention a kid’s lungs. Smoking cigarettes can cause reduced lung function, which reduces oxygen intake, especially when playing sports or doing regular exercise. To a student who habitually smokes, even going up the stairs in the H building could become a challenge.
Despite our generation not smoking cigarettes , most Montclair High School students smoke something much worse. Vapes (otherwise known as E-Cigarettes) are known for causing irreversible lung damage that a student would have to live the rest of their life with. The chemicals inside the vape are brain altering, which can make focusing in class more difficult; causing grades to slip.
Vapes also contain Formaldehyde and Acrolein. Acrolein is a weed killer that causes irreversible lung damage and Formaldehyde is a highly toxic substance used to embalm corpses. Enough exposure of these chemicals can cause cancer.
As if the side affects of Vapes are not terrible enough, they are actively marketed towards a younger audience.
“The companies make it smell and taste so good,” Ms. Gonzolaz; Montclair High School’s dean of discipline says. “It’s like candy, and there is a lot of appeal, so kids are starting it younger because it’s almost like candy, they don’t realize it. When you have a cigarette it’s stinky, it’s smelly. People don’t wanna do that as much. But when you’re vaping; And this is again from what kids have told me from when we interviewed them is that it tastes good it smells good and so they don’t realize how bad it is for them.”
CAVS, If you or anyone you know are struggling with an addiction to vaping, confide in a trusted parent/adult on campus or call 1-800-300-8086
