Campus Buzz

Campus Buzz

Students continue to use Juuls despite campus and community regulations

WORDS BY Lindsey Sellman

PHOTOS BY Tessa Poulain

Juuls — you may have seen the strange devices in the hands of friends and peers and the white clouds billowing from the mouths of fellow students.

Juuls are a small vapor devices that look suspiciously like a flash drive. The device even charges when plugged into a computer. Because of this, Juuls are easily concealed — even in a classroom or other smoke-free place, such as the Kent State campus.

Karlyn Kanuckel, a freshman majoring in nursing, first tried Juuling in May. She says a lot of people at school have Juuls and, at first, she thought they were stupid. Kanuckel’s best friend is the person who eventually coaxed her into trying the e-cigarette. Now, Kanuckel says she is addicted.

Kent State has been a smoke-free campus since July 1, 2017. The city of Kent passed an ordinance, Tobacco 21, on July 18 preventing the sale of tobacco or tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21. The Juul is included in both bans.

For these reasons, Kent State offers a free smoking cessation program to its students and staff to aid in quitting smoking. The DeWeese Health Center offers various forms of support for students interested in quitting, including the KSU Freedom from Smoking program, ways to get involved with nicotine replacement therapy and suggestions for apps that help with the quitting process. Coordinator of the Office of Health Promotion, Scott Dotterer, also suggests that students looking to stop smoking have “multiple layers of support.” He says the Ohio Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous is another place to find the tools one needs to quit.

Kanuckel says she is not affected by these bans because she purchases her JUULpods outside city limits, often in her hometown, which does not have its own version of the Tobacco 21 Ordinance.

In 2015, PAX Labs introduced Juuls to the electronic cigarette market. By 2017, JUUL Labs, a daughter company of PAX, was created due to the increasing popularity of the devices. JUUL Labs was founded by two former smokers and Stanford University graduates James Monsees and Adam Bowen. In April of 2018, JUUL Labs held more than 70 percent of the e-cigarette market, according to an article by The New York Times.

Since its creation, Juuls have become increasingly popular among teens and young adults. Matt Myers, the president of Tobacco Free Kids, says a 2018 survey showed 63 percent of teens and young adults who use Juuls do not realize the product contains nicotine.

After trying the device for the first time, Kanuckel was only informed of the nicotine content after she asked her friend why she was “buzzing.” The nicotine buzz, she says, is what made her think, “Dang, I need a Juul.” Although she says she doesn’t like being addicted, the nicotine buzz is calming and helps her cope with anxiety.

“Without a doubt, nicotine is a highly addictive drug,” says Dotterer via email. “The use of tobacco in any form is considered unsafe, especially for teens and young adults.”

The Juul has become notorious amongst young people that the Food and Drug Administration has been giving JUUL Labs special attention in recent months. In April, the FDA requested the company hands over information on its marketing tactics in hopes to better understand the notoriety of the product amongst youth. Kevin Burns, the chief executive officer at JUUL, says it handed over more than 50,000 pages in documents. More recently, the FDA made a surprise visit to the JUUL headquarters in San Francisco and seized more than 1,000 documents. Things like marketing and product design are believed to be linked to the popularity among the younger generation. Dotterer says there are concerns for the product due to its promotion on online media and the large variety of flavors available.

A student smokes a Juul outside of Midnight Oasis, blowing a cloud in front of an advertisement for the product.

On South Water Street in Kent stands Midnight Oasis, a tobacco shop. Among smoking accessories and apparel sits a small display of Juuls. The store began selling Juuls through its tobacco distributor.

“I don’t know why they’re picking on Juuls,” owner Chris Todd says. He claims most of the customers who go to Midnight Oasis to buy JUUL Pods are middle aged. Todd also says there are plenty of other e-cigarettes just as appealing to younger people because they market flavors, some with even more flavor options than Juuls.

JUUL Pods are the part of the Juul that contain the nicotine. They are filled with liquid and nicotine salts that are turned into vapor. The pods come in selections of three and five percent nicotine and the company does not currently offer a nicotine-free pod. The pods containing five percent nicotine are equivalent to an entire pack of cigarettes. Each pod is designed to last 200 “puffs,” but it varies depending on the person. Midnight Oasis sells 50 to 70 pods per month, down from the 80 pods the store sold prior to Kent’s Tobacco 21 Ordinance. Kanuckel estimates she spends $100 on JUUL Pods each month alone.

The Tobacco 21 Ordinance has not only affected businesses, but the whole town, in Todd’s opinion. It is driving customers out of the city limits in search of tobacco products. Todd believes kids with Juuls are possibly stealing the pods from older relatives. Kanuckel thinks, just like her, many young people have someone who can legally buy the products for them. She says it’s no different than alcohol, as “kids will always get their hands on it.” Whichever theory is correct, both Todd and Kanuckel agree the Tobacco 21 Ordinance is not going to do much good for the teens it is trying to protect.

“If they’re going to do it here, they should do it in the whole state,” Todd says.

Want more info?

Students interested in the smoking cessation program at Kent State can contact the Office of Health Promotion by telephone at 330-672-2320. They can also look online at www.kent.edu/smoke-free for more information.

LINDSEY SELLMAN | lsellman@kent.edu