For every puff of vape she inhales, 17-year-old MJ says she is rewarded one minute of relief. The anxiety that consumes her on a daily basis evaporates in that one minute, replaced by a blue raspberry haze she has grown dependent on.
She walks through her school hallways in this haze, though she knows vaping is bad for her health. Four years into inhaling vape juice, she’s living with the consequences. She can’t run for more than 10 seconds without having trouble breathing. There’s a feeling in her lungs, she says, an intense squeezing sensation after she vapes. She gets migraines. Her throat is always dry. She’s lost weight. She suffers from insomnia and a loss of appetite.
