In the crowded Davis Ballroom filled with red lasers and neon costumes, a plume of smoke from a Juul rises above the dancers, looking first like a cloud and then disappearing in the air as the white light on the Juul turns off. No one in the room seems to mind that the sale of this product has been banned for months in Massachusetts. While few Smith students choose to vape, it is still a part of the Smith College culture.
Students are divided in their response to a ban issued this September by Governor Charlie Baker on vape products.
Vaping is not a common activity at Smith. “I’ve only seen people vaping once or twice,” said Hannah Stevens ’20. “I see cigarettes a lot more.”
“I’ve seen vaping in other colleges way more,” said Rana Gahwagy ’22.
Of the sample of people interviewed for this story, only about five of 25 used vaping products, but none had completely stopped ingesting nicotine in response to the ban.
A vape or e-cigarette is a smoking alternative device that is increasing in popularity across the country. The device works by using a battery to heat a liquid, sometimes containing nicotine or THC in order to create an aerosol inhaled by the user. Vape products usually have a disposable piece that contains the liquid being vaped called “pods”. Juul is the most popular brand on the market originally created to help people quit smoking. Its increasing popularity among teens is an unintended consequence.
Recently, there has been an outbreak of lung injuries associated with e-cigarettes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2,051 lung injuries have been associated with vaping as of November 5, and 39 deaths were reported. Most of these injuries are caused by vapes with THC, but 17% of the reported injuries are the result of only the ingestion of juice containing nicotine. The CDC has found vitamin E acetate in all of the sampled patients with diseases caused by vaping.
Attempting to address this outbreak on September 24, Governor Baker issued an emergency order “which temporarily prohibited the sale and public display of all vaping products in Massachusetts.”
A judge in Massachusetts has declared that Charlie Baker overstepped his bounds by limiting the sale of medical marijuana vape products. Quickly after the ruling the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) ordered a quarantine on all marijuana vaping products except flower vaporizers, a vaping product that heats cannabis flowers instead of oil.
People are still finding ways to get pods with the ban in place, but their methods of buying the products have changed.
Because the ban is only in Massachusetts, some people cross state lines to buy vaping products.
“My friend from my house drives to Connecticut,” Kitty Chen ’21 said. “Juuling is a lot more inconvenient now.”
In order to Juul, some students buy pods illegally.
“The guy at the gas station sees me and slips me the pods under the counter” Walker Danforth, a UMass student, said.
Some speculate that people are switching to other vices because of the ban.
“I stopped juuling two weeks ago when they stopped selling the pods,” Da Yeon Lee ’20 said. “When I finished my stash of pods I changed to cigarettes.” She explained that she smokes a lot less now than when she had access to a Juul because she has to go outside to smoke.
Some students, confused about the vaping epidemic, end up spreading wrong information about vaping; one student who was interviewed believed that the only people getting sick were those using poorly produced handmade vaping products.
Smith College Schacht Center for Health and Wellness is currently creating a curriculum about vaping to be taught to student peer educators as early as next year.
“This curriculum is the first step in response to the outbreak in lung injuries caused by e-cigarettes,” said Emma Miller, an AmeriCorps worker at the Schacht Center. “If students come to us with questions about vaping we can now answer them.”
There are no support groups on campus specifically for vaping, but there is a nicotine cessation group. Students can talk to the Director of Wellness Programming, Kristina Mereigh, if they need help quitting their nicotine addiction.
`“It’s silly they created this ban and took all the products off the market when they should be educating the youth about the dangers of vaping,” Miller said.
Many people on Smith’s campus have been scared off from vaping THC products in response to the outbreak. While the illegal underage consumption of cannabis products is not affected by the ban itself, it is clear that the outbreak has caused concern about THC consumption among college age students.
“I’ve seen within my friends thinking [more] about the dangers of vaping dab pens,” Frances Buturian-Larson ’23 said. “We are erring on the side of more natural use.” Buturian-Larson is referring to smoking cannabis in a dried flower form as opposed to an oil.
“From an ethical standpoint I stopped selling carts [slang for cartridges containing THC].” a sophomore at Smith College said. “I don’t know where they are from and I don’t want to send people to the hospital.”
An overwhelming majority of students at Smith are against or do not vape themselves.
“Every time my friends send me snapchats of them vaping I send them hospital records” Abby Botta ’23 said.
Often when governments issues bans on products, people find other ways to get those products. For Smith students vaping is no exception. “People will find a way to buy pods. This ban will not stop people from juuling,” Lee said.
