In the age of flavored e-cigs taking the reigns from the now old-fashioned paper cigarettes and teenagers as young as 12 going to the hospital for diseases like popcorn lung, it’s clear that there needs to be a change, and it needs to happen fast. The Trump administration has taken action to ban certain flavors in hopes that it would take away the appeal to teens, but after Trump’s advisors made him aware that it could skew the votes, on November 17, the ban was repealed and left for dead.

Then, on December 17, 2019, the announcement was made that the Trump administration was taking this issue to the federal level, which is something that hasn’t been done before. Ever.  Less than 24 hours after being proposed, it passed. This was after Trump pulled the flavor ban because it could have made a significant dent in his chances for re-election from the vaping community. So, what is the next step? The rise of the age to buy tobacco and nicotine products to 21 can potentially dent the votes Trump can get from the 18-20 voting crowd. It has already been passed by the House. Now it has to make it through the Senate, and political advisors say that it will most likely survive the Senate.

So, what does this mean to you?

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that about 1 in every 20 middle schoolers, and 1 in every 5 high school students are addicted to nicotine. They point their finger to vaping and how popular it has become to blame the addictions spread. There are 536 students attending our high school, which means that approximately 107 students at ADM alone are addicted to nicotine or vape. People who are 18 or have graduated can supply for the younger students looking for nicotine and they are willing to pay however much they can to get what they want. This starts a frightening epidemic of Juul, N-Joy, and SMOK drug deals. And what will the inflicted teens turn to when they can no longer get a quick puff of nicotine? Harder drugs. Harder drugs to fill the empty void. Harder drugs laced with deadly chemicals and dangerous unknown toxic materials. If a teen wants something bad enough, they will do what they have to to get it. It is hard to guess what is going to happen, but it is easy to see that there could be a dramatic change coming soon for the youth of America.