- I juul everywhere.
- I juul in the bathroom.
- I juul in my car.
- I juul on the subway.
- I juul in my bedroom.
- I juul when I'm reading.
- The only place I really can't
is when I'm taking a shower.
- I juul all the time.
(tense xylophone music)
If you don't know what the Juul is,
it's a thumb drive looking device.
It's an electronic cigarette
packing a high dosage of nicotine.
I smoked cigarettes before switching to the Juul,
but what scares me is a lot of people
who never smoked before are picking up the Juul,
thinking it's not dangerous.
I wanted to understand the impacts of nicotine addiction,
so I talked to a psychiatrist.
- My name is Doctor Sarper Taskiran.
I'm a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
at the Child Mind Institute.
- I started smoking when I was 14 years old.
- I started smoking because one of my friends,
I remember she had a pack of smokes.
Not sure exactly where she got them,
because she was young too.
- I started smoking the Juul about a year ago.
I was out at the bars with my friends.
One of them had a Juul, I hit it
and I was like "Dang!"
- It was instantaneous, like I was hooked right away.
I do go through a pot and a half, maybe two a day,
depending on, like, what's going on with my day.
- And they say a pot is about the equivalent
of a pack of cigarettes,
so that means if I'm hitting the Juul
213 times in a day, that I'm smoking a pack
to a pack and a half of cigarettes a day, which is insane.
- The brain is tricked into thinking
that it has done something that's rewarding,
and this is our natural brain response,
to go for that reward,
so that's why it's very addicting
and that's why when you don't hit the Juul,
your brain constantly sends that feedback.
"Get it, get it, get it again,"
in order to feel that way again.
- What I've noticed with the Juul
in comparison to traditional smoking
is that a cigarette, you've got this cigarette,
you smoke it, it's done, you put it out
and then you're good for a few hours or what-not.
With this, it's kind of like a continuous thing.
- When chronically used, nicotine causes
actually a decrease in concentration
and you will go for nicotine
in order to get yourself to the same level.
- So I can't focus, I'm anxious, I'm stressed.
- It definitely has been having
some sort of negative impact on me.
I am ready to quit.
- What can we expect to, from when we quit the Juul?
- The moment you stop, in about two hours or so,
you're gonna start having cravings.
- All I want is a pull of that Juul
to help calm me down, but I can't have it!
- The, you know, second or the third day
is the hardest.
- I think after today, hopefully things
will start to become a little bit easier.
- But then you're gonna, you know,
get through that hurdle.
- Lungs are feeling a little bit better.
Brain's feeling a little bit better.
Ah, we got this.
- And over time, you're gonna feel definitely better.
(xylophone flourish)
- Good morning! - Morning!
- How you feelin'?
- Um, I feel ready, I feel nervous.
- The same.
Ah, first, I'm gonna drop this in my cat's poop box,
then I'm gonna go for a run.
Can't even finish my full run, 'cause my lungs hurt so much.
They can't breathe.
(coughs)
- I'm probably going to chew a lot of gum.
To the point where, like, my jaw hurts a little bit.
- Then I'm gonna keep myself distracted.
Yesterday when I was trying to read on the couch,
the cravings were really bad,
so I got out of the house to distract myself.
- I think I'll probably also, like,
go for a walk, try to stay active.
- Well, are you ready to do this?
- Yeah, no! - All right!
Let's take one last drag together.
- Okay. - Then we're done.
- I would say that things have gone very well
for a first day.
- Honestly, it's not nearly as terrible
as I thought it would be.
I'm definitely eating and craving a lot,
but I'm finding ways to, like, combat the cravings.
- I tossed my Juul out this morning,
so not having it
has given me a huge sense of relief,
but at the same time, it's giving me a lot of anxieties.
- I keep reaching for my pocket to grab my Juul
and it's not there, so this is very ingrained
in my subconscious and my routine.
- Day one, no Juul, yeah!
- It's the morning of the second day.
My brain woke me up at 5:00 a.m.,
'cause it was like "Yo dude, where's that nicotine?"
so I'm just chomping on this damn chopstick.
- The first thing I did when I woke up
and opened my eyes was I reached for the Juul
and then I realized, "Oh right, I don't have it anymore."
- I just kept having cravings when I was reading at home,
so I'll go read in the library.
I can't even read 'cause I keep falling asleep.
- Feel like I have a lot more energy.
Yesterday, I was just completely exhausted all day long
and I couldn't really understand why.
I slept fine the night before.
- When I drink, it makes me want to smoke a lot more,
and I didn't want to shelter myself
from those situations,
so today we're going over to my friend's house.
- The alcohol is flowin', Juul's are pullin'.
People are getting their nicotine hits, left and right.
And it's really tempting,
but I am keeping away from the Juuls.
Really, it's not taking that much of a willpower.
It's just, yeah, I just don't wanna do it.
- Day three of the quitting the Juul challenge.
I am feeling very good right now.
I feel like I don't need it at all at this point.
- So I'd gotten into the habit of smoking my Juul
at the movies, which is dumb.
You should not do it,
and my cravings are pretty bad,
but I brought my chopstick.
Cravings don't last super long,
so it's easy to fight it and get over 'em.
- I haven't had any negative side effects.
Like, I coughed a little bit,
but not that much throughout the night.
- But it is just so weird.
They're really stressors we get, I really wanted a bit,
but I'm, like, push through the craving,
but I'm still peeing frequently
and it's like my body is just like
"We need nicotine, we need the nicotine,
"we need the nicotine," and it's so weird!
- I juul in the bathroom and so my brain has associated
that when I use the bathroom, I get that hit of nicotine.
I get that reward and I get that pleasure,
and so my brain is like, "Hey!"
"I'm gonna make you need to pee,
"so we can get that nicotine."
Am I right in assuming that the Juul
has played an impact in my frequent urination,
or do you think that's not related?
- Think of memory as snapshots, right?
Whenever you're reminded of Juul,
then you're also reminded of "bathroom"
and the sensation of urinating,
but it's a psychological response that you crave
and your memory retrieves that, those hashtags,
- Yeah. - and then you find yourself
in the bathroom. - Wow.
- Things are very hectic right now.
I have exams and papers that are due, things like that,
so I know that's usually where
my level of stress are, like, through the roof,
but I do not think that I'm going to revert to vaping.
I think that I found healthier coping mechanisms for stress,
such as walking or chewing gum
or listening to some music.
- On day four and day five,
I had two 13 hour shoot days
and at the end of the long day,
all that I wanted was a pull of that Juul
and that hit of nicotine,
so I need to find a new coping mechanism,
whether that's running,
or it's meditating or yoga.
I need to find something.
- But I'm saving money, because the pots are not cheap.
Especially for someone who vaped as regularly as I did.
- People say that it's a vapor, and I,
you saying it's a vapor.
It's actually not a vapor, it's an aerosol,
and the difference is,
a vapor is just basically water, right?
An aerosol is, you have little tiny particles in it
and these electronic cigarettes
do have nicotine particles in it.
They have, you know, various different compounds
which are linked to, you know, carcinogenic material.
- In the end, you're doing yourself some good,
by not putting that garbage, you know,
in your body and in your lungs,
inhaling it and stuff like that.
All of that nasty stuff.
- Since quitting the Juul,
I've noticed that I'm a lot less anxious,
that I'm a lot less stressed.
My focus at work is a lot better
and I find that I enjoy my time
with my friends a lot more
because I'm not thinking about
when I can run away to get a hit of the Juul.
- You know, you gotta stay strong
and you have to stay positive.
It's gonna suck, you know,
you're probably gonna go through
different ranges of emotion, stress and whatever,
cravings, certain, you know,
maybe you might have some side effects from quitting,
but just know that it's all worthwhile
because there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
- We were both really terrified,
really didn't know what to expect
going into this challenge,
but we did it!
- Can I say, you know, 100%, 1000% that I'll never
vape again, or I'll never smoke again.
Honestly, I can't say no, but my hope is that I don't.
I don't plan on it, I don't intend to.
(bright ambient music)
relaxed percussion