“About 38 percent of high school students and 13 percent of middle school students reported that they’ve tried e-cigarettes. That could be an underestimate, too, since the students were reporting their own behavior, and surveys based on self-reports are known to be unreliable,” says Rachel Becker from The Verge.

Many people are unaware of the dangers of vaping, leaving a dark area in a large epidemic. Out of the 43.2% in the U.S. that vape, an estimated 9.5% are eighth graders.

Juuls are probably one of the most popular devices among young vapers. A Juul is a small vape that closely resembles a flash drive. Because of their discrete style, it is extremely easy for students to sneak them into schools and even past their parents. Juuls run on a battery that can be charged with a USB. That means that kids can charge their vapes nearly anywhere whether that be in their computers or even with their cell phone chargers. By now, you may think Juuls are great because they are small, light and easy to charge, but don’t be fooled by only what you see. The juices that comes in Juuls have the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. Since the effects of vaping are currently unknown, Juuls can be extremely dangerous because of how addictive they are.

“We don’t know all the facts about vaping. We don’t know what it could cause in the future for people. Back in the day when people smoked cigarettes they never thought that it could give you cancer,” says an eighth grader at Woodbridge Middle School. Though many long term side effects are still undetermined, some researchers have found side effects that should be common knowledge.

For instance, at the University of North Carolina researchers found that in scraped cells from the noses of smokers, vapers, and a controlled group who’ve done neither, both vapers and smokers showed decreasing activity in genes known to aid the immune system. Vapers showed diminishing activity in 300 more genes than regular smokers.

Another thing to think about is that the levels of nicotine are loosely monitored, and it has been determined that some vapes labeled “nicotine-free” have traces of nicotine, and others with it contain more than is displayed on the label. An eighth grade student says, “With nicotine that’s as bad as doing drugs or smoking. With the juices, I don’t know if they are beneficial in a healthy way. You could get lung cancer.”

The main problem with kids between middle school and high school is they’re still maturing, so just like drinking and smoking can badly affect growing kids, vaping may do the same. “It can definitely harm the body because of the chemicals that are in the vape and I don’t think our bodies are mature enough for that yet,” said one eighth grader.

One of the main reasons for the epidemic is the availability of these products to teens. It’s possible that older siblings are purchasing them for kids and their friends, but apparently vape pens and Juuls are sold on the internet, which requires almost less effort than having someone buy it for you. “There’s this person and he buys vapes online on eBay. They’re too easy to get,” says an eighth grade student.

Vaping is popular among middle schoolers, but why? Why are young teens taking part in such a dangerous activity? Many kids in our school stated that they do it “to be cool”. Kids will put their lives at risk to fit in with the crowd. “I know someone who did it for a week and now its just sitting in their room”, another eighth grader said. This goes to show how teens will vape just to be cool, and not even because they enjoy it.

Teens are constantly posting videos and pictures of them vaping on social media. This is extremely risky, though, because they’ll never know who’s going to see it.“I see people on Snapchat snapping them vaping in school so I think that that is bad. I see them snapchatting that they vape in the bathrooms and they vape in class”, said a WMS eighth grade student. One Woodbridge Middle School teacher explains how they don’t think posting about it is a good idea. “I don’t think it’s very smart. You have to be eighteen to vape, so its breaking the law.”

Since many parents would not allow vaping inside their homes, teens are vaping anywhere and everywhere. One WMS student says that they see others vaping “in cars, ice skating rinks, and Ubers.” Teens today will do anything they can to vape.

Trying to stop middle schoolers from vaping is easier said than done. It can be difficult to get in to young teens’ heads, because they most likely will choose not to listen. An eighth grader said, “they’re small so you can hide them. There’s no noise that come with them so anyone can vape. People are going to do what they want to do at the end of the day.” It will be a challenge to completely eliminate vaping in middle school.