If you’ve ever walked into a bathroom on campus and it smelled vaguely like fruit and chemicals, chances are someone was just in their vaping.
According to Citrus College 2022 Facts in Brief, 38% of students at Citrus are under 19-years-old or younger and a further 31% are between 20 and 24. Considering that over 38% of students are under the legal smoking age of 21, why and how are these students gaining access to vape products?
One reason people under 21 are attracted to vaping is how much easier to conceal vaping is compared to cigarettes.
“It’s not as revealing,” one 19-year-old student said. “It doesn’t smell bad, it doesn’t linger a smell. It’s very easy to use compared to going outside and lighting a cigarette.”
Another 19-year-old student echoed this reasoning.
“If I was in the backseat of the car I could hit, puff it a couple times and hold it in so nobody even sees it (…) but with a cigarette you smell it, you see the cigarette spark and that’s it.” he said.
Some students even say that vaping is so easy to conceal, they see classmates vaping on campus, even though smoking on campus is prohibited.
“I’ve seen underage classmates vape on campus, even in lectures,” an 18-year-old student said.
The same student said she thinks vaping is even more common among people even younger than her.
“They did it even more at my high school, actually like freshman just as much as seniors there, here (Citrus College) I actually don’t see it as much,” she said.
One 17-year-old student said he thinks children are misinformed about the health risks of vaping.
“Kids, I think, do it because they think it’s not as bad for your health as cigarettes,” he said.
Obviously, vaping is a heavy detriment to one’s health, as was written by Citrus College nurse Shauna Bigby.
“Some of the substances found in e-cigarettes (vaping) have been linked to cancer, neuro degenerative diseases, and heart issues” she wrote.
So what is influencing people under 21 to try vaping?
Four of the students interviewed for this story aged under 21 said the smell and flavors influenced them to try vaping.
“It’s how they say how flavors hook kids,” a 19-year-old student said.
Two of the students interviewed said people around them made them want to try it.
“I saw my parents doing it and I wanted to try it,” one student said.
Another said it was his friends who influenced him to try vaping.
“They (friends) have it and you’re like, oh you’re smoking? That’s kind of like the gateway,” he said.
People under 21 may be influenced by their peers to try vaping, but they can’t legally buy them, so how are they getting vape products?
One 19-year-old student said it’s no big deal to find a smoke shop that will sell to minors.
“I got it from a shop. I found a shop that didn’t ID. …There’s a lot here in Azusa. … It’s really easy,” he said.
The Clarion reached out to seven vape shops and six declined to comment.
A smoke and vape shop in Azusa said minors rarely come in to buy vapes, and when minors come in, they try to buy glassware or cigarettes.
One 19-year-old student did not reflect this sentiment.
“For me personally, I would never smoke a cigarette,” he said.
He explained that the action of vaping has an appeal to people his age.
“It’s like a certain amount of coolness that you think you get from it. … In today’s society everyone wants to get high or everyone wants to be the coolest kid at the party” he said.
