As we continue investigating the e-cigarette epidemic taking hold in the country, a common concern is teenagers and e-cigarette use.
The phrase “everybody’s doing it” has been in a lot of peoples heads when thinking about this health epidemic.
Locally, we surveyed teenagers from Dubois County High Schools to see how many were ACTUALLY doing it.
We spoke with 100 students anonymously at Forest Park Jr. Sr. High School, Northeast Dubois High School, Southridge High School, and Jasper High School.
21% of the 100 asked at Northeast Dubois stated that they vape, with a common way of obtaining the e-cigarettes is through friend groups. The most common e-cigarette type used is the Juul pod.
29% of the 100 asked at Forest Park stated that they vape, with a common way of obtaining the e-cigarettes is through friends. Juul was the most common e-cigarette type used.
19% of the 100 asked at Southridge stated that they vape, with friends being a common way to get their hands on the devices. Using a variety of different e-cigarettes, such as pens, mod boxes, and pods were the most common answer when asking students what they normally used.
11% of the 100 asked at Jasper stated they vape, with friends being the most common way to get the e-cigarette. Juul again was the most common e-cigarette type used.
It’s important to remember that these numbers do no account for every student as enrollment sizes vary upon the school, with every school reaching over 250 students, with Jasper High School having just under 1,200 students enrolled.
Jasper High School principal Brian Wilson says that they have taken measures to try to curb the climbing use of students using e-cigarettes.
Some students mentioned that the reason they started using e-cigarettes began as a social activity at parties and escalated from there.
Tomorrow, we take a look at what one can do if they are experiencing sickness symptoms after vaping.
