The juul was invented in 2007 by two Stamford grads, James Monsees and Adam Bowen. They were both smokers of cigarettes and  had a goal to create an alternative to smoking cigarettes. They achieved this goal when they invented the Juul, a type of e-cigarette  designed to help smokers slowly turn to a safer method of nicotine delivery.

Over the past year high school and college students have been using juuls because they think its safe and fun. The opposite is true, in fact.  A juul pack contains 4 pods and each pod contains 5% nicotine, equivalent to a pack of cigarettes, according to juulvapor.com. In the state of Virginia it is legal to purchase a juul at the age of 18 but you cant buy one online until your 21. This means that eighteen year olds are buying juuls in stores and selling them to minors. 

The nicotine from the juul activates part of the brain and makes the brain feel happy and pleasure. This is what makes juuling so addictive because it makes people feel happy when doing it. Although juuls have less chemicals than cigarettes they still include glycerol, propylene glycol, natural oils, extracts and flavor, nicotine and benzoic acid.

Not only is it addictive, its also very expensive. The juul device itself costs $35-$50 depending on what kind you get, the juul pods cost $15 for a pack of 4. On average each pod lasts one or two days before you have to use another. If a person used three pods a week they would be spending $2,160 a year on pods, and a 5 year habit would cost $10,800. The pods come in all different flavors, including mango, cool mint, fruit medley, creme brulee and cool cucumber. Having so many flavors makes this product even more appealing to young people.

Juul needs to find a way to help addicted smokers without getting high school and college students addicted to nicotine. Maybe this will be a trend that dies out, or it might be a turning point where a new generation grows up addicted to smoking.