Raze in the News.

by Amberlie

Ever since the vaping epidemic really took off in 2015 there has only been a rise of vape users, but the most concerning rise is in teens. To purchase tobacco products in West Virginia a person had to be eighteen years old, and a lot of teens were getting their tobacco from their older friends. West Virginia upped the age to purchase tobacco to twenty-one in hopes that it would reduce the number of school-aged students using tobacco thinking that there would be no way to access it. That is not the case. When I was in middle school, I did not know anyone who used a vape (I might have just been oblivious) and when I was in my underclassmen years of high school, I knew a few people, but not as many as there are now. I often ask my peers where they are getting these products and there is usually three different replies: “I bought it myself at a gas station,” “my mom or dad bought it for me,” or “my friend’s parent got it for me.” There are many parents who still believe that vaping is not bad for you, or it just isn’t harmful as cigarettes due to not having tar.

Some of the students in my school that started vaping have done so within the past year. Enormous amounts of stress have come upon students this year from having to adapt to a new way of learning. To combat this stress and anxiety, vaping is an unhealthy outlet that teens are using to release the stress. The hardest thing for me is seeing the star athletes at our school walking up the flights of stairs and being out of breath immediately. Hopefully by the 2021-22 school year anti-tobacco and vaping advocates will be able to get back to saving today’s youth from the harmful chemicals found in e-cigarettes. Although I will be graduated from high school, it will be exciting to see what RAZE leaders and ambassadors come up with to help tear down liquid lies for the following school year!