In recent news, it has been pretty obvious that vaping is an enormous problem for teens in the United States. Teens across the country are being diagnosed with serious lung issues that are being connected to vaping products consisting of THC or nicotine. According to an article written in The Washington Post, “Federal officials said Thursday (October 17) there have been at least 1,479 cases across every state but Alaska connected to e-cigarettes.” Out of these cases, there have been at least thirty-three deaths confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The recent spike in illnesses related to vaping has led to the state of Massachusetts and Governor Charlie Baker placing a four-month ban on the sale of all vaping products. 

We asked the Assistant Principal of Ipswich High School, Jeffery Carovillano, what he thought of the ban. He answered, “I think the ban is a good thing because of the health crisis that vaping was causing for kids and teens. I think they need to figure out why people are dying from vaping, but I’m worried about the legality of the ban.” 

We also interviewed Alex Yanakakis, a junior at Ipswich High School, about his opinions on the ban. He responded with, “It is very smart because vaping is an epidemic and a waste of money for kids these days.” 

Like many others, Mr. Carovillano and Alex agreed that the ban placed by Charlie Baker will benefit the people in Massachusetts. They believe that vaping products are causing very serious problems among teens and that the ban is needed to get those problems under control. Studies show that, “In 2019, the prevalence of past month nicotine vaping was more than 1 in 4 students in 12th grade, 1 in 5 in 10th grade, and 1 in 11 in eighth grade” (National Institute on Drug Abuse).

When asked if they believed that the ban will stop teens in Massachusetts from vaping, Mr. Carovillano and Alex replied similarly again. Mr. Carovillano replied, “I don’t think it will stop it, but it will help kids to start trying to stop vaping. I expect kids to stop influencing the vaping problem.” Alex answered by saying, “I think it will, but there are many ways for them to still get it and if kids want to ruin themselves then that’s their fault.”

There are many people against the ban who say that vaping related illnesses are only caused by black market THC cartridges and not the regulated nicotine products. The ban has also forced vape shop owners to go out of business, leading them to file lawsuits against Governor Baker and the state of Massachusetts. 

When asked how they felt about these vape shop owners, Alex replied, “They’re trying to make a living but it is the right thing to do to shut them down because their products are harming others.” We asked Mr. Carovillano the same question and he answered, “I feel badly for them because it stops them from being able to sell their products and make money, but I think we should be more worried about THC pods than nicotine products.”

Vaping has risen to be a very large problem in the United States. Over the past several months, over a thousand people have been hospitalized with lung illnesses due to vaping, with many of them being teenagers. There have been several attempts to slow these problems down, but they haven’t worked. The state of Massachusetts took it a step further and decide to place a four month ban on the sale of all vaping products in order to try to prevent these illnesses and deaths.