Small, new device to vape is equivalent to pack of cigarettes

Police are warning parents about a new device.

It looks like a thumb drive or even a sharpie, but teens are using it to vape.

Experts say smoking one is the equivalent of inhaling a pack of cigarettes.

The "Juul" is becoming so popular with teenagers, some stores have them on back order.

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Pediatricians say they're concerned about how innocent the device looks.

"I'm seeing kids starting to get this," Dr. Lester Hartman with Westwood Mansfield Pediatrics said. "I'm seeing the marketing has entered into the kids and I'm seeing parents have no idea about these things."

Smoking one Juul is the equivalent of smoking an entire pack of cigarettes.

Teens tell Hartman they do it because they get an initial high from it, called "rocking."

But he's concerned about the carcinogens users inhale. Those include propylene glycol; in other words: antifreeze.

"We don't know what that does to a fetus, we don't know what it does to a little kid being exposed," Hartman said.

The Juul costs just $49.99 for a starter kit and can be ordered online.

It appears you need only to check a box to confirm you're 18 years old.

"Kids lie," Hartman said. "They just press that and bam and you go get a Visa gift card, you know, you avoid your parent's credit card."

One vape store said it has policies in place when the Juul is delivered through the mail.

The owner, a mother of four, said "juuling" is better than the alternative of cigarettes.

But what about the carcinogens?

"Vegetable glycerin and propylene gloycol have both been approved as additives for food," Stacy Poritzky said. "There has not been sufficient testing on inhaling it, but we know that a cigarette has 60 known carcinogens."

Juul Labs issued a statement, which said in part: "Minors should not use any nicotine product, including ours. JUUL was created for adult smokers of legal age only and we strive to keep our product out of the hands of minors. Recent science raises concerns about the adverse effects of nicotine on adolescent neurodevelopment."

Another reason why Juuls are so easy to hide, especially in school, is that they are flavored and the scent can be mistaken for perfume.

Cox Media Group