Assignment 7A-Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Opportunity: Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has raised the federal minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 causing uproar in young adults and teens as they look to older friends and people to help feed their nicotine addiction despite the detrimental health effects.

WHO: young adults under the age of 21

WHAT: They have begun asking other people to buy the products for them

WHY: Using these tobacco products have detrimental health effects

Kylie, 19, college student:

Does your friend group use JUULS or do you do it regularly on your own?

            NO, me and my best friend JUUL the most and couple other people in our friend group do too. I wouldn’t consider it social smoking because now I JUUL even when I’m not out at a bar or club.

Does anyone else in your immediate or extended family smoke?

            My parents don’t smoke but I have uncles and aunts that do and my grandfather just smokes cigars.

Do you think you’re addicted?

            No, I think if I had to I could stop at any time.

How often do you JUUL?

            I hit my JUUL like 10 times a day but more when I go out.

How do you feel about this change in the minimum age?

            It’s really annoying because I'm legally adult but now I cant even buy tobacco products.

Do you often find yourself asking others to buy tobacco products for you?

            Yeah I just ask my older friends to buy me pods and stuff its pretty easy.

Has this change affected the amount you can smoke now?

            No I still smoke about the same.

Have you noticed any changes in your health?

            No, I feel fine.

Has your primary doctor suggested you quit using nicotine containing products?

            I haven’t told my doctor that I JUUL.

Are your parents concerned after hearing about the kids whose lungs have collapsed from using JUULS?

            Yeah they worry about that a lot but they also think that I don’t JUUL so they think I’ll be okay.

Ashleigh,21, college student:

Does your friend group use JUULS or do you do it regularly on your own?

            I think almost everyone in my friend group JUULS but we only do it when we’re out at like a bar.       

Does anyone else in your immediate or extended family smoke?

            A lot of people on my dad’s side smoke but he doesn’t and my mom doesn’t smoke.

Do you think you’re addicted?

            Honestly no because I only smoke when I go out with my friends.

How often do you JUUL?

            Probably only like two nights a week.

How do you feel about this change in the minimum age?

            I don’t care because it doesn’t affect me and I can still buy pods.

Do you often find yourself asking others to buy tobacco products for you?

            No because I'mm already 21.

Has this change affected the amount you can smoke now?

            NO I still smoke the same amount.

Have you noticed any changes in your health?

            No but after hearing about people having lung problems I did go from using my JUUL       whenever to only when I would go out.

Has your primary doctor suggested you quit using nicotine containing products?

            I told him that I do JUUL sometimes and he suggested that I be careful and consider        quitting but I feel fine.

Are your parents concerned after hearing about the kids whose lungs have collapsed from using JUULS?

            They are but they also don’t know that I JUUL.

Amanda,19,college student:

Does your friend group use JUULS or do you do it regularly on your own?

            I JUUL pretty consistently on my own and some of my friends JUUL too.

Does anyone else in your immediate or extended family smoke?

            No one in my immediate family smokes but I have cousins and uncles that do.     

Do you think you’re addicted?

            No but I think I do use it a little bit too much.

How often do you JUUL?

            Almost everyday.

How do you feel about this change in the minimum age?

            It’s a little bit harder to buy pods because I have to ask friends or wait until they’re          available to buy me some but overall it’s not the bad. Initially I was annoyed with the change but I still am able to get pods so I don’t care now.

Do you often find yourself asking others to buy tobacco products for you?

            Yeah like I mentioned I have my older friends buy me pods.

Has this change affected the amount you can smoke now?

            No I would say that I still smoke about the same.

Have you noticed any changes in your health?

            I still feel fine and haven’t noticed anything new.

Has your primary doctor suggested you quit using nicotine containing products?

            I never told my doctor that I smoke so its not something that we’ve discussed.

Are your parents concerned after hearing about the kids whose lungs have collapsed from using JUULS?

            Yes they’re worried especially since they see a lot of kids in my hometown use JUULs but they don’t know I smoke so they’re not worried about me.

Jonathan,20, college student:

Does your friend group use JUULS or do you do it regularly on your own?

            I use a JUUL occasionally but not everyday.

Does anyone else in your immediate or extended family smoke?

            No one in my immediate family smokes but I think a few of my uncles and aunts dol.

Do you think you’re addicted?

            No I think I could stop at any time.

How often do you JUUL?

            Mostly when I go out but sometimes when Im just hanging at my apartment.

How do you feel about this change in the minimum age?

            I don’t smoke that much so I really only have to buy pods once a month and I just ask a   friend or my roommate.

Do you often find yourself asking others to buy tobacco products for you?

            Yes I either ask my best friend or one of my roommates because they’re 21.

Has this change affected the amount you can smoke now?

            No I still smoke the same amount.

Have you noticed any changes in your health?

            No.

Has your primary doctor suggested you quit using nicotine containing products?

            Yes I told him I use a JUUL and he told me to be very carefully and to consider not using   it anymore.

Are your parents concerned after hearing about the kids whose lungs have collapsed from using JUULS?

            My parent don’t know much about these kinds of products so they don’t really care.

Cory,18, college student

Does your friend group use JUULS or do you do it regularly on your own?

            I don’t JUUL but some of my friends do.

Does anyone else in your immediate or extended family smoke?

            I think I have a few uncles that smoke.

Do you think you’re addicted?

Definitely not because I don’t use a JUUL.

How often do you JUUL?

Never.

How do you feel about this change in the minimum age?

            I don’t really care but a lot of my friends are annoyed because we’re freshman and so     now its kind of hard to find people to buy pods for them.

Do you often find yourself asking others to buy tobacco products for you?

            I don’t ask people but my friends are always asking people to buy them pods like every 3 weeks.

Has this change affected the amount you can smoke now?

            No.

Have you noticed any changes in your health?

            No because I don’t smoke.

Has your primary doctor suggest you quit using nicotine containing products?

            No.

Are your parents concerned after hearing about the kids whose lungs have collapsed from using JUULS?

            I don’t know if my parents are but I a bit worried for my friends because at first the used to just use their JUUL when we went out but now they use it throughout the day too.

After talking with everyone it solidified for me that there definitely is a huge opportunity in this industry. But above all I think the hardest thing would be to make these young adults understand that they are on the verge of being addicted to nicotine because after talking with these 5 individuals a lot of them dont think they are.  I also noticed that when the family had a history of cigarette smokers that then translated to the child using a JUUL. Im not saying there is a direct correlation but there is definitely a relationship between the two. Another very important thing that I found was that the ones who do use a JUUL or vape product were not really effected by this change in the federal minimum age to buy tobacco products. Many said that thy still smoke about the same amount and whenever they need more they just ask an older friend to buy it for them. So after completing these interviews, I definitely could see this opportunity being successful.