A hot topic of conversation at the school board meeting this last week was the rise in popularity of Juul smoking cartridges.  Juul smoking is a growing problem among young people nationwide to include the small schools and communities such as Wishek and Ashley. Juul smoking is when a cartridge (or pod) is filled with liquid. “The liquid typically contains nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals. When you puff on the mouthpiece of the device, it activates a heating element. This heats up the liquid in the pod and turns it into vapor.” -familydoctor.org One Juul pod (cartridge) can last for 200 puffs and contains about 0.7ml of liquid. This liquid or nicotine in an entire pod is equal to a pack of 20 cigarettes, and 10 puffs equal 1 cigarette. As the number of puffs depends on the person, so does the level of nicotine. However, a large minority of individuals take more than 140 puffs per day. For teachers and teens, this poses a problem. When talking with Principal Christopher Doane of the Ashley School, his main concern was the teens’ health. “Whether those health issues come now or down the road, I honestly don’t think the kids realize the risks.” Doane compared it to “20 years ago when cigarettes were a trend and cool to do. Kid’s think Juul smoking is mostly vaping water, and it isn’t, which they will find out later on when certain health conditions arise as they did from cigarettes. At present, however, there aren’t enough studies done to make those conditions well known.”  However, some studies and health concerns that have been done include the following: You have a chronic cough. Chemicals in vapes could irritate your throat. ... You have chest pain or shortness of breath. Fluid could collect in your lungs and make breathing difficult or even impossible. ... You vomit, feel nauseous, or have diarrhea. ... You’re running a fever. ... You feel tired. A person is considered to be vaping too much if they show any of these signs. -insider.com Is vaping less harmful than smoking? Although Juul smoking or vaping is less harmful than smoking, it is still not considered safe. Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, explains, “E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavorings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic.  While we don’t know exactly what chemicals are in e-cigarettes, Blaha says, “there’s almost no doubt that they expose you to fewer toxic chemicals than traditional cigarettes.” However, there has also been an outbreak of lung injuries and deaths associated with vaping. As of Jan. 21, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 60 deaths in patients with e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI).” Other health concerns in students and vaping include decreased oxygen supply to the brain each time a student vapes, which can negatively affect brain development, decrease concentration levels, and clear learning.  As vaping contains nicotine, it can also be detected in a student’s urine, blood, saliva, hair, and nails, showing how absorbent a person’s body reacts and the proven harmful effects on the lungs and cardiovascular health.  These are major health concerns in which students seem to be unaware.