Allyson Chan
Reporting by Emma Shen and Allinah Zhan.
*Source names have been changed to protect source privacy.
The Annual National Youth Tobacco survey revealed that in 2023, 12.6% of high schoolers reported using a tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, cigars, nicotine pouches and gum. With social normalization and so many options wrapped in flashy, enticing packaging, teenagers’ curiosities are piqued.
USAGE
Senior *Glenn has experimented with Zyns — a brand of nicotine pouch placed between the lip and gum for nicotine to be absorbed into the bloodstream — and describes the experience as enlightening.
“[The buzz is] like a tingly feeling in your brain,” Glenn said. “It’s like when you run three miles, come back and you have that runner’s euphoria.”
On the other hand, senior *Gia describes it as a light-headed feeling and smokes mainly out of habit or to de-stress.
“You just get a little dizzy, like when you stand up too fast,” Gia said. “I think the reason I actively consume it, even though I know the negatives, is because there’s a ritual to it. After a long day, if I feel like I need to clear my head, I go on a walk and I smoke. It’s a comfort thing or a coping mechanism.”
However, some of the euphoric effects of nicotine may diminish with regular use.
“[Nicotine] is a stimulant, so it can make people feel focused and give them a head rush,” said Dr. Jessamy Cadigan, Tobacco Use Prevention Education mental health therapist. “But the head rush [disappears] fairly quickly if you’re using it all the time. Then you need more and more to get the high, or the high goes away and you just need it to feel normal.”
For freshman *Clara, it only took a few months after she first started vaping for the effects to fade.
“Now I don’t feel anything from [vaping],” Clara said. “I just get a little headache. [But I continue since] I just get bored without it. I don’t have a lot of friends, so I mainly just stay at home and I don’t have much to do.”
Having used nicotine daily for nearly two years, Clara reported withdrawal symptoms when going too long without it, usually kicking in within one to two days.
“If I realize that I haven’t been [vaping], I get this weird feeling,” Clara said. “It’s like when you’re watching something that makes you [physically uncomfortable]; you just feel like you’re cringing forever. I get angry, I get quiet, and if someone says the slightest thing to me, I go off on them. And I don’t mean to.”
Junior *Tori has witnessed others go to extreme measures for nicotine, especially frequent users.
“My friends who are into it, they’re crazy, like they fiend for it,” Tori said. “They almost got into a car crash once because they were fighting over who could smoke [the vape pen], right while they were driving.”
Many have observed similarly negative effects, which have discouraged them from ever trying nicotine.
“My dad has been smoking since high school and still does, even though he’s had many health problems [because of] it,” said sophomore *Lily. “He had to go to the hospital multiple times because he had trouble breathing. This just makes me never want to try it, seeing how much he’s addicted to it and how he can’t quit even though it’s been affecting our family. He [spends] a lot of money on it.”
Past unpleasant experiences with nicotine also deter some.
“You would breathe in, and your throat would burn, and then you breathe out and you’re like ‘Oh, it tastes like mango juice,’” said junior *Taylor. “[I wouldn’t want to try vaping again] because I don’t want to risk getting an addiction [when] I don’t feel any enjoyment from it. I had a friend who was addicted to nicotine and she would tell me all about her withdrawal symptoms, like how she had headaches, felt sick all the time and was nauseous. She just felt kind of empty, and I wouldn’t ever want to go through that.”
INFLUENCE
Despite this, several people continue to use or try nicotine because of peer pressure.
“My friends [vape], so it’s just awkward when you’re not doing it,” said junior *Erika. “I personally don’t see the appeal but I usually just do it because it’s kind of in the moment, and you’re not going to get lung cancer from doing it once. It’s fine in moderation, but definitely not a good habit.”
Family member’s smoking habits can influence one to begin as well. According to a 2015 study by the American Journal of Public Health, adolescents were nearly three times as likely to smoke if their parents were dependent on nicotine.
“My sister [saw our dad smoke, so] she tried it,” Lily said. “[Although] she said she’d never get addicted, she continued with it, and she is quite addicted now. She uses vaping as a way to get out of eating because [it has] so many different flavors.”
In addition to peer pressure and family influence, another factor prompting nicotine use among adolescents is its glamorization in the media.
“You’ll see it [used] so casually and you don’t think much of it because it’s something that so many people do,” Erika said. “I can see how it can be influential when celebrities do it because people are like, ‘Oh, well they do it, and they’re fine. So why not?’”
Nicotine, usually in the form of smoking or vaping, often appears in television shows and movies.
“One show that comes up, especially with teen use, is ‘Skins’,” Gia said. “It’s very 2000s, grunge kind of vibe, and the kids are always with a cigarette in their mouths.”
Especially with the prevalence of social media, adolescents are constantly exposed to content promoting and romanticizing nicotine use. One prominent figure contributing to this is Lana Del Rey, a singer-songwriter known for her vintage, Americana aesthetic inspired by the ‘70s — an era where smoking was more widely accepted. In the past, she has often been depicted holding a cigarette, evoking a sense of glamor and allure. More recently, she has switched to vaping, and fans have remarked on her dependence as she carries it everywhere, even using it during performances.
“I feel like [the depiction of smoking] in social media recently has been strangely positive,” Gia said. “There’s a lot of romanticizing this bad girl, Lana Del Rey aesthetic. It’s really interesting because some people that I never thought would ask me for a cigarette would be like ‘Can I have one?’ And I would ask them why, and they’re like ‘Oh, I’m curious because of TikTok.’”
MARKETING
With thousands of flavors from strawberry watermelon to cool mint, vapes are designed to captivate a young audience. Moreover, tobacco companies craft these devices into inconspicuous and portable shapes like pens and sunscreen-shaped pods to appeal to teenagers.
“The tobacco companies are targeting our teens and making devices that might be fun for you to slip in your pocket,” said health teacher and department head Barbara Beaumont. “[This way], they can feel sneaky and [like they’re] hiding it.”
Their sleek shapes and fruity scents have made vapes seem like a relatively safe and user-friendly option, even though they still contain high levels of nicotine.
“[With] vaping coming out, it has re-hooked our kids on nicotine, which was kind of going passe,” Cadigan said. “[What] they’ve done is they’ve made it look cool, taste good and smell good, and it doesn’t hurt your throat as much. They’ve taken a lot of the barriers away from cigarette smoking and other nicotine delivery devices.”
EFFECTS ON BODY
Adolescents are one of the most susceptible groups to the harmful effects of nicotine, with their brain development, learning, memory, and attention all being impacted. Beaumont believes nicotine has no benefits and can be linked to increased anxiety and depression, although some individuals may use it as treatment.
“[Teen] brains are like sponges,” Beaumont said. “They can get addicted to things very easily because they have the dopamine receptors [that are] wired for that quick reward. [Nicotine is] a toxic substance that’s highly addictive and [it] leads a person to continue to want that addictive substance throughout their life.”
According to Cate Picciocca, a master’s graduate with a community psychology degree in drugs and alcohol, many users don’t realize the detrimental effects of nicotine on both the mind and the body.
“Nicotine keeps people away from other people,” Picciocca said. “It’s like a smoke screen, emotionally and physically. [As] you continue to smoke, health issues develop. [When I was smoking], I used to get bronchitis once or twice a year, and I had infections. And since I quit smoking 16 years ago, I don’t even get colds; I’m a pretty healthy specimen and I’m in my 70s.”
Many students also caution against the use of nicotine due to its addictive nature.
“I got lucky to not get easily addicted but I know a lot of people who [have],” Tori said. “And it’s expensive, so you’re wasting money. It’s not good for your lungs, and it’s not good for your brain. There’s a reason why you have to be 21 or older to [legally] buy stuff like that.”
Clara echoes this sentiment, expressing regret about her vaping habits.
“I feel like I would be doing a lot better [both] friend-wise and academic-wise,” Clara said. “A lot of my friends that don’t smoke get very distant, and [they say] I miss how you were in seventh grade before you started doing all that.”
RECOVERY
The recovery process is often long and arduous, as it can be accompanied by increased feelings of irritation, restlessness, concentration issues, sleep issues and cravings, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, Picciocca managed to quit after 10 years of regular smoking, with self-awareness and seeking support from others being key components of her recovery.
“You have to, first of all, admit that you have a problem,” said Picciocca. “And then it’s looking at yourself. Trying to figure out why you’re doing, and why you try to mask something in your life. The [next] step is talking to someone. You try to get rid of the behavior that you have that hurts people and hurts yourself. The biggest part is helping others — passing the message along, practicing the principles of being a better person instead of mouthy, and demeaning, and degrading. The result is learning about patience, tolerance, acceptance and letting go.”
Aragon offers several programs to support students throughout this process.
“[We] do restorative process and what we call alternative to suspension,” said assistant principal David Moore. “[If] we find a student who has been using or has nicotine, for the first offense, we put them through this program, called the Tobacco Use Prevention Education Grant. It’s a four-week course that they take at the district office to learn why they’re using and how to prevent it. It digs deeper into not just the act, but the reasoning behind it.”
