Dangers of JUUL e-cigs not stopping teens

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - According to the FDA, 3.5 million children in the United States are now vaping. E-cigarette sales have risen 77 percent in 2018 among students in high school and 50 percent among students in middle school.

The legal age to buy vaping products is 21-years-old, the same age for purchasing tobacco products.

JUUL can be purchased online, which might make it easier for under-age students to get their hands on them.

A JUUL starter kit, which includes the device, a charging station and four pods, costs about $50 online.

Advocates of e-cigarettes say that it is a powerful tool in helping adult smokers quit.

The FDA’s possible ban on flavored pods will likely be detrimental to JUUL'S manufacturers.

Experts say many e-cigarette users are likely to become addicted to the nicotine in the product and some will probably end up on regular cigarettes, a product we all know kills half of its long-term users.

"I think a lot of people forgot about nicotine addiction and how horrible it is. We don’t have a good program on helping kids quit," said Dr. Mark Rubenstein, UC San Francisco.