Today, Explained - Back to Juul

Episode Date: September 14, 2018

The FDA announced this week it’s cracking down on e-cigarettes, demanding that manufacturers like Juul prove within 60 days they aren’t harmful to youth. Vox’s Julia Belluz explains why kids love vaping and why they shouldn't. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, we're heading into the weekend. Why not head into the weekend by sending someone some money internationally? You could use TransferWise to make a friend or family member or even maybe a stranger's day. Check out TransferWise for free at TransferWise.com slash today or just download the TransferWise app. When I was a kid, I thought smoking looked pretty cool. How long have you been a smoker? 22 years.

But these days, the kids, they're more into vaping. They're more into Juul. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. I'm going to attempt to hit the Juul for 30 seconds straight without exhaling. Then we're going to go out in our bathing suits and roll around in the snow and then rip our jewel for like two minutes. It tastes like a blueberry muffin, man. You want another one of it, bro? One more.

Guys, I pimped my jewel and turned it gold. I like the mango. It's just like one of the best flavors I've ever tried, really, in my vaping career. And now, Uncle Sam's coming to crash the party. The FDA calling it a dangerous epidemic. The proportion of high school teenagers using e-cigarettes has reached nothing short of an epidemic level. The agency sending out warning letters to retailers and giving an ultimatum to the makers of the popular Juul and four other manufacturers. They have 60 days to show that they can keep their nicotine products out of the hands of underage users. On Wednesday, the FDA

took its gloves off. The Food and Drug Administration said that two million middle and high school students were using them last year. It put makers of the most popular devices, devices like the Juul, on notice. They've got 60 days to prove that they can keep their e-cigarettes away from kids. If not, they might face charges, like criminal charges. We explained the allure of the Juul back in May, and we thought it might be helpful to provide a little reminder. Because this e-cigarette hype is huge. This isn't like smoking when you were in high school. Kids aren't even trying to hide anything anymore.

They're vaping in school. They're vaping in class. The Juul would be my favorite thing to take. Just get you something like that, like a small vape that you can hide, slip it into your underwear or something, and, like, put it around your waistline. And when you're going to the bathroom to get your fucking nicotine fix, you just reach in there and grab it and, hey, dude, you're going to go to the bathroom.

This is my 20th year working in a high school, and we've never seen anything like this. Meg Kenney's an assistant principal at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, Vermont. We started to catch on that students were using them in classes or on the school bus. And because the device, you know, really looks like this USB drive, and is small and compact and easily concealable. And there is no really distinct odor and there's no smoke left behind. That's one of the challenges for schools is that when you glimpse it,

you're not thinking, oh, that's a Juul. They're smoking nicotine oil with that. You know, I think for teachers, a lot of teachers, that's just not obvious. This seemed to be popular with our younger students, our ninth and tenth graders, more than our students in 11th and 12th grade. We've also seen the combination of using the Juul on campus combined with social media, like there was a little bit of a, who could use a Juul in different places and take a picture and snap it around? Like, here I am firing up the Juul on my school bus and here I am in my Spanish class and I'm going to Snapchat a picture around. And that kind of became a little bit of a thing, I think, for students to be like, oh, I'm going to one-up you. I'm going to fire up my jewel and nobody's going to know and I'm

going to snap a picture wherever around the campus. And that's often how we found out about it. Like somebody would say, hey, so-and-so is sending pictures around of them jeweling in the bathroom or in their class. And there was actually a little bit of a distribution ring happening where students would order the Juul product over the internet, or they would know somebody who was 18 who could legally buy the product, and then they were selling them on campus. And I would have to say that even parents, I think, when we've intervened and had meetings with parents, they're even confused as to what's the product. Is there really nicotine in it? My kid just told me it's flavored oil.

So that's just something that we're up against. I'm Julia Beluz, the senior health correspondent at Vox.com. So I've never felt older reporting on a story than I did reporting on The Jewel. Why does reporting on The Jewel make you feel so old? Because it's like this whole language and culture that's emerged among high schoolers. And I don't know, do you have friends who are like avid jewelers or vapers? Because I don't. Unfortunately, I do and I are like avid jewelers or vapors? Because I don't. Unfortunately, I do and I make fun of them.

Okay, there we go. When I think about my time in high school, there was like the smoking section outside the school. It's a different scene out there that you see on social media. And it's cooler than bell bottoms apparently or something, right? The jewel is not cool, but it does have this really catchy name. And its pods come in eight flavors. Mango, Virginia tobacco, cool

mint, cool cucumber, classic menthol, fruit medley, creme brulee, and classic tobacco. Some of these flavors sound a lot more like things you'd find in a kid's snack box than a vape device. How do you use the Juul? So you stick the pod into a cartridge on one end of the device, and then you inhale through a mouthpiece at the other end of the Juul, and then the device vaporizes this e-liquid in the pod, and then you're vaping. And when the device runs out of power, you just stick the Juul into your computer's USB port and you recharge it. You mentioned that it's kind of exploding right now, just in terms of sales. How popular is the Juul? It seems like Juul's the top selling cigarette by a long shot.

And it's only been on the market for three years, which is just staggering when you think about the fact that there are hundreds of other e-cigarettes on the market. Wow. To put that into perspective, in March this year, Juul had more than half of the market share for retail e-cigarettes in the US. And that's just bonkers for a single device. So who's buying this Juul?

Who's using it? There's a lot of anecdotal reports about, you know, this just spreading like wildfire on campuses. And if you look on Twitter or on YouTube under hashtags like do it for Juul, you find kids showing off kind of doing tricks with the devices yeah yo what's good nope we got the jewel here gonna teach you some tricks how many tricks four right top four tricks top four tricks with the jewel get that buzz jewel army all right so to start we're gonna start with a ghost and it's basically where

like the smoke comes out of your mouth like it comes out your mouth that way and you just inhale it back in so it's kind of something like this and yeah when you start to talk to teenagers who are using it i think there are a lot of reasons why it might be particularly appealing for youth so So, you know, the fact that you can easily hide it, you know, your parents might not know what it is. The fact that there are all these flavors that are really appealing, it's very discreet, it's lightweight, it's easier to use than other devices. How much does it cost, the Juul? What's it run? So there's a starter kit and you get the e-cigarette, the USB charger, four pods, and it sells for about $50. And then the device itself alone, $35.

Where are these kids getting all that money? Back in my day, a pack of cigarettes was like $4. And a pack of four Juul pods is about $16. So how did this become the biggest e-cigarette in the country? Part of it is the design. So it was designed by these two Stanford design graduates. One had a background working at Apple and you can see that in the device. It looks like this, you know, high-tech sleek little thing. It looks different from other cigarettes. It's also easier to use. It doesn't require users to replace coils or

atomizers, which other e-cigarettes require. Oh, but what really sets it apart, I think, is that it just delivers this mega dose of nicotine. So these two Stanford grads who designed the Juul, were they targeting kids, adolescents? Was it their idea? It's Like, hey, let's make a cool thing for the kids? No, that's the interesting thing. So when you look at the official marketing online, they talk about how they're targeting adult smokers who want to quit and how they want to end the smoking epidemic

and how that's their official position and mission. How much nicotine does the Juul have in comparison to a cigarette? So Juul claims that one of their little e-liquid pods, those things that you stick in the end of the device and vaporize, they claim that it has the same levels of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. But the tobacco experts I spoke to said they think it's more like two packs of cigarettes. Oh, shit. And so users will go through a pod, like some are using a pod a day, some are using a pod every, you know, four to five days a week.

But you're ripping through nicotine really quickly. And the way Juul hits your body, it delivers a very similar nicotine peak as cigarettes. And part of that is because the nicotine in Juul comes from nicotine salts. Okay. And that's a type of processed nicotine that's easily and quickly absorbed into the body.

And it doesn't create the kind of irritation, the nicotine in cigarettes, which is free-base nicotine. And so it goes down much more smoothly. And that was something that really worried the public health people I spoke to. Do these kids know how much nicotine is in the Juul? Researchers actually just conveniently did a study on this question. They surveyed young people aged 15 to 24, asking them about what they knew about Juul? Researchers actually just conveniently did a study on this question. They surveyed young people aged 15 to 24, asking them about what they knew about Juul and what they thought about it.

And only a quarter of the people who knew about Juul knew that it always contains nicotine. And these aren't Juul users. These are just people who recognize Juul. Yeah. And then 37% of people who had used Juul in the last 30 days knew that Juul always contains nicotine. So most did not. a party and he has a screwdriver in his hand but he's holding it so you can only see the silver tip of the screwdriver and he'll just like walk up to random people with the tip of his screwdriver and they all try to hit it thinking it's the jewel or some other vape pen everyone just seems to think this is like funny. It's a joke. I mean, the video is definitely funny.

It's less funny when you think that a lot of people who are using it don't realize that it contains nicotine. I think the way public health people are thinking about it, groups like Tobacco Free Kids and the American Academy of Pediatrics, they're really worried that this might be the biggest public health crisis facing a new generation of American youth. After the break, I apologize to the youth of America for thinking their vaping is funny. Kids, it's not funny, it's dangerous. And we've written a song about it. It's coming at the end of the show. This is Today Explained. Hey, is this the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder? Possibly. Who's this? Sean Romsferm, Today Explained. Hi. Hey. You know, there are so many mysterious things about you, Breakmaster, your voice, but also your location.

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I wonder if you make the music for the Love It or Leave It podcast. I don't. What is that? Oh. I hope you'll tell me. It's a podcast where John Lovett, you might know him as a host of Pod Save America or as a speechwriter for President Obama. He has on comedians, journalists, celebrities, and activists for a roundup of the week's news. They play games, bring on actors for dramatic readings, and rant about everything from flight delays to Tom Cruise stunts.

Oh, God damn it. everything from flight delays to Tom Cruise stunts. I'm Elijah Stewart, and I'm 19 years old, and I attend Providence College. I first heard about the Juul my sophomore year in high school. I think it started to become a habit maybe after even a week of using it. I mean, I cycle through a pod between every four to five days, which means like $16.32 of my own money, which over time you're paying $1,200 in Juul pods for a year. So it really does do some damage to your wallet once you become hooked. When I was a senior in high school, there was these group of girls that thought tobacco was so disgusting and despised it and was like, how could you do that to yourself? And then a couple of weeks later, every single one of them owned a Juul and by a

weekend they were hooked. I think the flavors were really appealing to the public because when you hit like a mango pod per se, it kind of tastes in a way like candy almost. And you also get the head rush. I was talking with some students who I helped tutor in math and science, and they were telling me how they even drooled. And they were in middle school still. They're in seventh grade, eighth grade, who despise cigarettes and everything, like think it's the cool thing to do, to drool. I feel like a lot of the concerns with smoking

are alleviated by vaping because there's obviously so much less damage to your lungs. You're not smoking tobacco, it's vapor, but how harmful are e-cigarettes? How harmful is like Juul? Yeah. So there's no question that e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes and most public health groups I think would agree with that assessment, but safer doesn't mean safe. And I think that's what people forget here. What the comparator is. Cigarettes are one of the deadliest products available to consumers. They still kill something like one in five Americans. And that's the message I think that gets lost here. And the reality is we don't know about the long-term effects of e-cigarettes. Will they cause cancers? Are they

going to harm the lungs or circulatory system in ways we can't even imagine right now? We just have no idea, and they haven't been used for long enough to know. What about nicotine? We know it's addictive, but is it dangerous? Here's the thing. Nicotine is not as deadly as many of the toxins and chemicals in conventional cigarettes, but it is extremely addictive. It targets the reward circuitry of our brain, and there's some concern that exposing young people to nicotine may affect how their brains are developing and in ways that may sensitize them to substance use disorders later. And quitting nicotine, it's serious. People go through really intense withdrawal symptoms. So we're talking about nervousness, restlessness, moodiness, anxiety, sleep disturbances, you know, changes in appetite, headache, constipation, weight gain,

fatigue. It's hard enough for adults to handle this. And I think these are symptoms we probably don't want our teenagers experiencing. On the other hand, if you're a smoker, maybe a product like Juul can help you quit. And it's this potentially powerful harm reduction tool. And that's also why regulators are a little hamstrung. And there's been this conundrum around these devices. Products like Juul, they might hook a generation on nicotine with all these nasty effects that we've described, but they also might help smokers quit. Is that happening? So that's another thing we don't know. So the National Academies of Science came out with a

big report this year, and they looked at questions around the health impact of e-cigarettes. And they found there was insufficient evidence that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking. But there is a lot of evidence that most of the adult e-cigarette users are dual users, so they smoke and vape. So they might be people who are using vape devices to try to quit smoking. Maybe they're smokers who are vaping in places where they can't smoke just to get the nicotine they need. How has that changed the way tobacco companies sell cigarettes or market cigarettes? Are they all getting onto the vape bandwagon now or what? So yeah, a lot of these big tobacco companies have their own e-cigarette products and the market is pretty mixed.

There are these small companies and startups with vape products, and then there are many products coming from big tobacco companies. You mentioned smoking rates have been on this steady decline over the past several decades. So if all these kids are smoking Juuls now, could they end up reviving cigarettes, ironically, tragically? That's really the million dollar question. Again, when we were growing up, we didn't have these less harmful options available when maybe we wanted to dabble in smoking and try something out.

And so maybe, you know, the kids these days who are trying Juul or other devices, maybe they're going to be exposed to less harm than we were when we were trying cigarettes. But on or other devices, maybe they're going to be exposed to less harm than we were when we were trying cigarettes. But on the other hand, maybe these devices renormalize smoking or they get young people into nicotine, and that leads to this tsunami of public health effects that no one can foresee now.

When I was in Toronto smoking cigarettes for the first time, I remember when they put images on the packs of cigarettes, like a cancerous lung or a kid saying, My mom's dead. And I'll never forget that image of a hand squeezing 20 cigarettes and all this toxic bile coming out of it. These images are seared into my mind. But I haven't heard anything about vaping

to make me feel like it's dangerous or terrible. So we haven't updated our health warnings on cigarette packs since 1985. What if our show made a song to help kids understand what's wrong with Juuling? That would be great. You know what musical artists we could parody? Juul? we could parody? Jewel? Jewel? It's the thing a hundred times a day The teacher tries to confiscate The kids, there's no way

Another mango puff, a cucumber puff Can't get enough, you know you love it When your selfie blows up, what? Don't go vape your Juul Cause it's full of nicotine La, la, vape your Juul It's like one nicotine. Vape your Juul. It's like one or two packs of smokes. Don't go vape your Juul.

It's really not cool. Julia Blues doesn't jewel. She writes about health at Vox. Christina Animashan sings better than anyone else at Vox. And Noam Hassenfeld is the Rick Rubin of Vox. I'm Sean Ramos from This Is Today Explained. Irene Noguchi is our executive producer. Bridget McCarthy is our editor.

Afim Shapiro is our engineer. Luke Vander Ploeg produces. And the unreachable Breakmaster Cylinder makes music for us. Today Explained is produced in association with Stitcher. And we're part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm John Henry. I am eight, nine years old. And I live in Washington, D.C. You can follow Today Explained on Twitter at today underscore explained.

Thanks again to TransferWise for supporting the show this week. TransferWise helps you get your Jason Bourne on, your James Bond. You get a borderless account that lets you hold over 40 currencies at once and convert between them whenever you like. You can feel real fancy when you go to TransferWise.com slash today or download their app.