The Poison Information Centre warns that the popular puff bars can contain dangerous substances that can lead to psychosis, organ failure, and in the worst case, death.
Alma Eiler Frank and Bastian Johansen both experience that puff bars are widespread in their social circles. (Photo: © DR News) 47 minutes ago
The sun is beating down on the beach in Aarhus.
19-year-old Alma Eiler Frank is walking with a disposable grill for a beach day with friends.
She pulls out her pink watermelon-flavored puff bar, brings it to her lips, and takes a puff, without really knowing what ends up in her lungs.
- I don't know where it's made or what's in it. I don't know anything about it.
- I just hope there's only nicotine in it, she says.
But you can't be sure of that, which is why the Poison Information Centre is now warning against using the illegal puff bars that smugglers bring across the borders.
Read also: Risk of 'serious poisoning': Senior doctor warns against dangerous substances in puff bars (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/risiko-alvorlige-forgiftninger-overlaege-advarer-mod-farlige-stoffer-i-puff-bars)
Besides tasting like fruit and candy, the small e-cigarettes can contain dangerous substances. It's just not necessarily something you can read on the package.
The substances are called synthetic cannabinoids, and they come with a long list of consequences if you become poisoned by them, such as psychosis, organ failure, and in the worst case, death.
Alma can feel that it doesn't feel like regular cigarettes when the vapor reaches her lungs, she says:
----------------------------
Popular among children and young people
----------------------------
The warning from the Poison Information Centre, however, does not make Alma Eiler Frank put away her pink puff bar.
On the beach, she hands it over to her friend, 21-year-old Bastian Johansen, who himself is holding a green puff bar. They take a puff from each other's.
For them, puff bars are not just something you smoke alone. It's something that gets shared, for example at parties, explains Alma Eiler Frank.
- Then there are 15 colored car batteries (puff bars, ed.) on the tables. It looks completely crazy, she says.
And they are far from the only ones using them.
>
> It destroys my lungs to a completely different degree than cigarettes
> ever will
> Bastian Johansen
The latest §RØG survey from the National Institute of Public Health, which maps young people's use of tobacco and nicotine products, shows that 113,000 young people between 15 and 29 use e-cigarettes and disposable vapes like puff bars. 80 percent state that they use them with flavor, which is illegal.
According to Alma Eiler Frank, part of the explanation is that they are easy to get hold of.
- You could go on Telegram or Snapchat, you could write to a friend, you could meet someone on the street and take theirs if they are a bit too drunk, she says.
Alma Eiler Frank orders her puff bars over the phone, where she can see which flavors the seller offers. This is a sample from their correspondence:
Bastian Johansen says he can feel that puff bars feel different from cigarettes.
- It destroys my lungs to a completely different degree than cigarettes ever will, he says.
But why do you do it then?
- It's easily accessible and easy to take out of your pocket. Instead of having to light a cigarette and being forced to smoke the whole thing, you can just take two puffs, he says.
Alma Eiler Frank plans to stop smoking puff bars, but also cigarettes, before she turns 20.
- I'm not old enough at all to be coughing like this, and it's not because my fitness is terrible, but there is a difference, and there shouldn't be, so I want to do something before something happens.
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=undefined)
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.