JUUL- “The Cigarette Alternative”
The United States of America Vs. The United Kingdom Views on the JUUL
JUUL is a portable nicotine device that gives the sensory experience of a cigarette. The JUUL is made up of two parts. The battery pack that regulates battery and temperature and the e-liquid containing glycerol and propylene glycol, nicotine, benzoic acid, and flavorings. The JUUL gives all of the same effects of a cigarette without the look and smell of a cigarette. The JUUL has raised many health concerns as it isn’t the “better” alternative to cigarettes. One JUUL pod contains about if not more, nicotine than one pack of cigarettes. The E-Cigarette, especially JUUL, has posed many health problems for the youth and is described as a “public health crisis” or “epidemic.” With a slim, sleek design and little to no scent, these devices can be hard to identify and easy to hide from parents.
Passing
Smoking an e-cigarette such as the JUUL, can be easy to conceal and hide because of the small device that resembles a USB and the lack of scent to the substance. Goffman, would consider JUULing a stigma that can be passed within society. In other words, one can be deviant in engaging with the stigmatized act without having repercussions from the society and audience around them perceiving it as deviant.
Youth and Adolescent use in The United States of America
The JUUL was originally supposed to be an alternative for adults to quit smoking cigarettes, with the JUUL being 95% better for one’s health, but it wasn’t long before the JUUL transitioned into a major consumption of youths and adolescents (Hunt, 2019). In the United States more than a quarter of high school students use a JUUL daily (Hunt, 2019). The desirable look and tastes of the e-cigarette of JUUL flavors there are made it appealing to young adolescents. Additionally, the display of media describing a JUUL as a better alternative to smoking cigarettes created the connotation that the JUUL was better for you and safer when it was not either of those things. President Trump banned the sale of flavored JUUL pods to take aways some of the appeal to younger adolescents.
Youth and Adolescent use in The United Kingdom
JUUL use in The United Kingdom is far less than JUUL use in The United States of America. With only about 1% of high school students using the JUUL, it is a dramatic difference than the use of high school students in The United States (Hunt, 2019). The UK doesn’t seem to suffer from the “public health crisis” that America is suffering from.
What is Different?
The United Kingdom looks at the JUUL as a transition from actual cigarettes. NOT as a starting point. “If you don’t smoke don’t JUUL” The United States of America looks at the JUUL as a starting point if you don’t smoke actual cigarettes and a transition to stop smoking cigarettes (Hunt, 2019). The JUUL is considered a gateway drug for people who don’t smoke cigarettes. The main difference for all of these findings is- Promotion and Advertisement
Advertisement
The UK has much stricter regulations when it comes to advertisement of products like the JUUL. For instance, The UK doesn’t allow advertisements for products as such on TV, social media, and radio stations. In The United States, these commercials often fill up the TV, radio, and social media. If it isn’t an advertisement showing the risks of smoking, it is an advertisement promoting smoking, drawing attention to it, especially the supposed better health benefits of the JUUL. In the UK e-cigarette companies are restricted from advertisement, packaging, or labeling. Creating a less desirable look for the younger generations. The UK advertises smoking, the JUUL or e-cigarettes as posing some health problems and risks as to where the United States thinks of it as a good alternative.
Regulation
- The UK doesn’t allow more than 20mg/ml nicotine strength (Hunt, 2019)
- The United States has JUULS that are 59mg/ml making them potent in nicotine strength. – This is not allowed in the UK (Hunt, 2019).
Institutions, Demographics, and Power
Institutions– The institutions responsible for creating structure for adolescents consuming this product is sellers, the government, law enforcement, and schools. Requiring certain ages to consume is crucial and the government is responsible for regulating advertisement and promotion of the dangers coming from the product.
Demographics– Although, this product was started to relieve adults who smoke cigarettes giving them an alternative it has quickly changed into the majority of use comes from adolescents and teens.
Power– The large debate over e-cigarettes continues on. In one aspect there is regulation such as in the UK with advertisement and strength and the limitation of flavors in the e-cigarette but what is stopping individuals from continuing on with the drug? The government can limit usage by age and appeal but the large debate then comes into play of when the black market will start for these products by banning them all together. It is a difficult topic to discuss because on one hand it is slightly better for individuals trying to stop smoking but on the other hand it is creating a large nicotine addiction for the youth.
Is this a moral panic?
Using the JUUL is considered a deviant behavior because a group of people labeled it as deviant. The society around us created the deviant label around this action. Is this really a problem? Or is it a moral panic? with only a quarter of high school students in the US using this product and only 1% of high school students using this product in the UK, is this really a problem (Hunt, 2019)? The numbers could be a lot higher. We have this notion that younger generations are using the product and becoming addicted but we are unsure of the exact negatives and health problems that come with using the JUUL. Yes, it isn’t healthy to consume nicotine but, is the statistics enough to consider this a “public health crisis?”
Labeling Theory
We assume that people who smoke JUULs are deviant and are engaging in a bad behavior. One thing that isn’t talked about is the different ways of life around the world. Many cultures are heavy smokers. Just because people label the behavior as deviant, it doesn’t mean that the behavior is actually deviant. There has also been a stigma created around smoking an e-cigarette that isn’t surrounded around smoking actual cigarettes. The stigma that smoking cigarettes isn’t as deviant as smoking an e-cigarette when in reality, an e-cigarette is a cigarette of this generation.
Question: Do you think e- cigarettes are more harmful than helpful? Do you think they could be more helpful if ensured they are out of the reach and ability to get for kids?
References
Reynolds, M. (2019, August 7). How the UK became the testing ground for Juuls US ambitions. Retrieved from https://www.wired.co.uk/article/juul-c1-e-cigarette-youth-vaping
Nedelman, M. (2019, October 17). Juul to stop selling several flavored products in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/17/health/juul-stop-selling-flavor-bn/index.html
Hunt, K. (2019, September 17). The US and UK see vaping very differently. Heres why. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/17/health/vaping-us-uk-e-cigarette-differences-intl/index.html
Cohen, S. (2015). Folk devils and moral panics: the creation of the Mods and Rockers. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Becker, H. S. (1997). Outsiders. London: Free Press.
Marshal, M. P., Molina, B. S. G., Pelham, W. E., Jr., Marshal, M. P., Molina, B. S. G., & Pelham, W. E., Jr. (2003). Adolescent Substance Use Questionnaire. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 17, 293–302.
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