Vapor Pens, also commonly known as “Vapes”, Hookah or E-Cigs are a growing trend. More people are smoking these as an alternative to cigarettes.

People who partake in vapor pen activities are re-normalizing smoking. According to a NBC Bay Area news report “A recent CDC poll revealed that the number of middle and high school students surveyed who admitted to trying vapes doubled in just one year, to nearly two million in 2012.”

This trend is not dying; it is only getting stronger. The growing rise in these products has called for more research on the health effects these devices have one the individual and public.

Some of the cartridges in these pens contain marijuana or nicotine, which can be in high concentrations. San Francisco General Hospital Doctor, Neal Benowitz states, “So in theory, if someone were suicidal or a child got ahold of them, they could get a potentially lethal dose of nicotine.”

It has been made apparent that these devices are dangerous to our health; however, there is not enough research being done on them. I am a student athlete at Diablo Valley College and I take pride in having a healthy body.

With a growing rise of these devices on campus I believe the same bans on cigarettes should apply to vapes as well. They need to be banned on school campuses, inside restaurants, and stores.

More attention needs to be drawn to the fact that not everyone wants to inhale the smoke and they haven’t done enough research for them to be considered safe to use.