Teenage Drinking And The Abuse Of Alcohol

Every 51 minutes in America, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash. A dangerous issue facing society today is the problem of teen drinking and driving. Currently an approximate of 10,076 people die in drunk driving crashes per year. If positive progress to ceasing this act does not happen, teens will continue to drink and drive putting everybody on the road at risk. Teens who drink and drive put everyone on the road at risk, causing serious crashes that could be preventable.

Originally manufactured in China in 2003, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were manufactured as a better way of inhaling nicotine without the health effects of smoking tobacco. They were developed to provide the tobacco user with a device that would heat up liquid nicotine and other chemicals including carcinogens that once heated would create a vapor in which the user would inhale. Unlike cigarettes, nothing is burned, and there is no smoke released from the device. E-cigarettes are marketed to the consumer as a better way of quitting smoking or just sustaining the craving of tobacco by allowing the smoker the pleasure of nicotine in reduced amounts. Currently, the FDA Center for Tobacco Products regulates cigarettes, tobacco, and smokeless tobacco and only e-cigarettes that are marketed to the consumer for therapeutic purposes are regulated by the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

The e-cigarette format, however, does not eliminate concerns regarding public and individual health risks. The World Health Organization has called for e-cigarette usage to be monitored in the same way as more conventional tobacco products,(23) the US FDA is advocating for more research,(24) and there has been a dramatic increase in analyses of the chemical, physiological, psychological and socio-cultural aspects of e-cigarettes.(2-7,9-12,14-21,24-52)

The popularity of e-cigarettes and vapes has grown exponentially within the last couple of years. These two alternatives offer a “safe” way to consume nicotine or just a substitute to regular cigarette smoking. These products omit water vapor instead of tobacco smoke, constructing it as less of a health risk. Nicotine can be added to the mixture to help quit smoking or offer a healthier option to those with nicotine dependence. There has not been widespread research on conventional e-cigarettes, in addition to data on vapes been relatively premature. These smoking devices have not be regulated by the FDA yet, but the FDA has looked into e-cigarettes and its contents (FDA, 2015). Many e-cigarettes that are thought to be free of nicotine, have

“With such compelling information, the question is why haven 't we been able to do more to prevent the crisis of underage drinking? The answer is: rising the age to 25” is what Lucille Roybal-Allard once said, a U.S. Representative for serving in Congress since 1993. This statement has brought many to speculate of issues and debates. This expression opened the eyes of American people that often struggled to make this truth into a reality. It might be easy to believe that age laws lowered the deaths of the underage but there are still signs of its dreadful company in many pieces of American life. Families who choose to educate their children about underage drinking and driving, seem to have a higher chance of getting through with the child. These underage teens can face jail or death when they give drinking a chance and even attempt to drive, having a sexual intercourse or just plain out doing something out of the teen’s element.

Teens are smoking e-cigs and something needs to be done. One “pod” promises the amount of nicotine equal to an entire pack of conventional cigarettes. E-cigs are easy to hide and come in a variety of flavors. The Food and Drug Administration decided to hold off on implementing an already finalized rule that would regulate e-cigarettes. Postponing a regulation on e-cigs is a mistake.

The food and drug administration has control over e-cigarettes since 2011 and they haven’t been regulating e-cigarettes yet. They have only issued a letter “to electronic cigarette distributors warning them to see's making various unsubstantiated

Electronic cigarettes, also known as "e-cigarettes", could potentially be heading for regulation after renewed debate about its use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

As with other such technologies, e-cigarettes don’t neatly fit into regulatory niches. The federal government is struggling to understand how to regulate e-cigarettes and, sadly, is on the verge of making a harmful first step with the FDA’s proposed rules. E-cigarettes are not tobacco products and should not be regulated as such E-cigarettes are a boon for public health because they help smokers quit using cigarettes

We now live in a digital world where everything we use must be battery operated. Our paper and pencils have taken a back seat for Microsoft word. As must everything evolve, cigarettes have taken the next leap of evolution and gone digital. Electronic cigarettes have begun to flood the market with statics of 2 million users and 2.5 billion dollars in profits. Right now a lot is unknown about these devices and there are no safety regulations. Those who oppose and support electronic cigarettes have different views, negatives and positives, of their use. Electronic cigarettes is a controversial issue due to not being safe, a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes, marketing toward teens, and an aid in helping smokers quit.

Today the biggest question is, “Are they harmful?” Electronic Cigarettes are being tested and thoroughly examined to identify the helpful and hazardous effects they may have. Most importantly, they are being compared to traditional cigarettes to determine whether or not they are a safe alternative for smokers. According to the Food and Drug Administration, there are trace amounts of toxic and carcinogenic ingredients found in several cartridge samples of e-cigarettes. The FDA tried to regulate them as drug delivery devices; however, a federal judge ruled in 2010 that it lacked such authority, so the FDA is currently moving to regulate them as tobacco products (Feldman, 2014).

The FDA regulates traditional cigarettes. The FDA “caught off guard by a product that is neither a food nor a drug and perhaps not even a tobacco product.” (Barboza 1). Selling e-cigarettes to minors is illegal, as all other combustible items. Any chemicals entering the lungs can cause damage. E-liquid contains nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerin and cadmium to name a few may also contain lead and nickel. Major tobacco companies are investing in e-cigarettes. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance, which needs to be regulated.

One of the most controversial debated issue involving e-cigarettes is whether its status is that of a smoking reliever device or a tobacco product. Anyone can get a an e-cigarette online because there has been little government intervention involving the purchases taken place online. Under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the FDA was granted authority to regulate any product that has or derives from tobacco. Since August 2016, the American Lung Association called for the FDA to bring e-cigarettes and other related and unregulated tobacco products under its authority. Given the exponential rise in youth using e-cigarettes in the US, this was especially important during the time, according to the American Lung Association, as it included a 900 percent increase amongst high school students from 2011 to 2015. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), teens who uses smokeless tobacco products are more likely to smoke cigarettes than nonusers. Due to the easy accessibility of e-cigarettes, they are seen as a novelty product rather than a solution to combat smoking addiction amongst many vaping

Imagine if there were an alternative to smoking cigarettes. Imagine this alternative could help millions of people quit smoking and comes with only a fraction of the harmful chemicals that cigarettes do. The electronic cigarette or e-cigarette was created in 2003 by a Chinese pharmacist. It works by heating a liquid until it turns into vapor which is then inhaled. Since its creation, it use has grown exponentially worldwide. Its use in the US, however, was not regulated by the FDA until August 2016. This regulation deemed e-cigarette devices to be tobacco products, which means it must comply with all the rules that tobacco products do such as, marketing, labeling and companies must register and comply with FDA regulation. This makes the production

E-cigarettes appear as an innocent alternative to the real thing but the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory identifying the “volatile” substances in the device and its emitted smoke may not be that harmless after all (“FDA: Second-Hand Smoke From E-Cigarettes May Be Harmful To Your Health”, 2013). Electronic cigarettes contain organic substances including propylene glycol, flavors, and nicotine which are emitted as a mist into the air in enclosed areas. FDA studies show that these microscopic liquid particles have the possibility of penetrating deep into our lungs. Also cited by the FDA in a German publication on electronic cigarettes shows