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Smoking and tobacco use has long been present throughout history and it has long been known to cause many health related issues. As part of that, the introduction of electronic cigarettes were invented as a means to aid those with a tobacco addiction in quitting. However, electronic cigarettes, or vaping, has become increasingly popular in use, even among people who did not originally smoke. According to recent studies vaping has led to an epidemic level of vaping-related acute lung injury (Fuentes et al., 2019) with over 2,000 reported cases and over 60 deaths in the US alone (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020; Christiani, 2020; Tobacco Free California, 2020). Almost all of the reported cases have led to hospitalization with the necessity of such treatments as medically induced comas, breathing machines, and other life support measures (Tobacco Free California, 2020). To combat this epidemic, there have long been smoking cessation programs in place to help those seeking to quit smoking. However, younger and younger people have become the target for electronic cigarettes and vaping, previously advertising that they were not as harmful as cigarettes and providing numerous flavors to entice youth and young adults to try. The highest priority for prevention is providing education to youth and young adults on the dangers of smoking and the dangers that electronic cigarettes and vaping possess. American Lung Association (2020) also offers programs such as the “Not On Tobacco†program to help teens quit smoking, and the “Intervention for Nicotine Dependence: Education, Prevention, Tobacco and Health†to help students in need of assistance with nicotine addiction.
