Will Vaping Lead Teens to Smoking Cigarettes? – Johns Hopkins Medicine

Vaping and e-cigarettes are sometimes promoted as ways to help cigarettesmokers quit. But what about the reverse? Can vaping lead to regularcigarette smoking later on?

A Johns Hopkins cardiologist shares his insights on the potential dangersof vaping, and why avoiding cigarettes and their electronicalternatives is the healthier choice.

Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, directs clinical research attheCiccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease.

Blaha says that although vaping may not be as dangerous as smoking, itsnot a safe practice.

Some e-cigarettes and vape juices contain nicotine, an addictivesubstance in tobacco. As of 2016, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)classifies e-cigarettes and nicotine-laced vape juice as tobacco productsand regulates them accordingly.

Blaha says that while the FDA has recently taken a stance that is moretoward what it calls modified risk tobacco products that cause less harmthan smoking, vaping is certainly more harmful than not using anything atall.

Kids have such a poor understanding of vaping products itsextraordinary, he says. Sometimes they dont know that theres nicotinein them or what the dose is, or what the impact of the flavorings might be.

But because using these products is more socially acceptable than smoking,they might think that electronic cigarettes are perfectly safe.

In addition to nicotine, artificial flavorings and other chemicals thatusers inhale, Blaha is concerned about some of the behavioral aspects ofvaping.

I think perhaps the #1 concern about vaping right now is theso-called gateway effect. Our own literature suggests that 2 million youngadults use electronic cigarettes as their first nicotine-based product.Theyre not trying to quit smoking theyve never smoked before.

Nicotine in any form is highly addictive. Vaping, using nicotine-lacedproducts, can become a tenacious and expensive habit, and kids might notstop there.

Blaha says theres evidence that young people who vape are more likely togo on to use illicit drugs and tobacco products such as cigarettes.

We might be causing the next smoking epidemic through young people gettingaddicted to electronic cigarettes early in life, he says.

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Will Vaping Lead Teens to Smoking Cigarettes? - Johns Hopkins Medicine