Oak Park High School’s “Teen Awareness Night,” hosted by spokesperson Jonah Ansell on behalf of Ventura County’s “How High” program, discussed the presence of the e-cigarette at Oak Park. For some time now, the e-cigarette has made increased appearances in the Oak Park community.

The e-cigarette is a pen-like device that utilizes a vaporization technique to provide nicotine to the user.

Though the e-cigarette seems to be less harmful, it still poses serious threats to one’s health.

E-cigarettes contain no tobacco and do not produce second-hand smoke. According to Gizmodo, e-cigarettes can actually help smokers struggling to quit actual cigarettes.

In a letter to Health Commissioner Tonio Borg of the European Union, Professor Jean-François Etter and a number of other scientists made clear that, if used properly by recovering smokers, e-cigarettes pose no pressing health threats.

Etter made the effort to contact Borg after noticing some mistakes with the Union’s Tobacco Products Directive and its respective limitations on e-cigarettes. Some of these mistakes concerned limiting the nicotine levels in e-cigarettes to 20mL, when much more is required for a recovering smoker.

“20 mg/mL of e-liquid provides less than one-third of the nicotine delivered by one tobacco cigarette. 50mg/mL is needed to roughly match a tobacco cigarette. Higher nicotine content liquids are typically used by the most dependent smokers, who have the highest risk of smoking-related damage, and who benefit most from switching to electronic cigarettes,” the scientists stated.

However, recent evidence has urged the World Health Organization, along with other established organizations such as the American Heart Association, to agree that vaping is detrimental towards the human body — especially the bodies of teenagers.

According to Douglas Bettcher, Director of the WHO’s Department for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, vaping with the e-cigarette is potentially responsible for “gateway addictions.”

“The tobacco industry is taking greater share as public health partners pretending to be part of the solution to the health disaster they have created,” Bettcher said in an interview with USA Today.

Teenagers are aware of e-cigarettes because of advertising. According to ProjectKnow, studies have shown that e-cigarette ads reach more than 50 percent of 12 to 17-year-olds.

Recent studies suggest that the e-cigarette poses a threat  to smokers of all ages. ProjectKnow also states that e-cigarettes contain substances that can be more dangerous than tobacco.

Additionally, “e-cigarettes” can also be used to smoke other addictive substances, like marijuana. At the school’s “Teen Awareness Night,” Karen Streeter, a pediatrician who focuses on the effects of substance abuse on the pre-adult mind, explained that high dosage extractions of marijuana, called “dabs,” can be placed in the e-cigarettes and cause severe damage to the brain and body.

While the e-cigarette remains a topic of discussion, authorities such as the World Health Organization agree that such a device does not belong in the hands of students.