Substance dependence is a tale as old as time. Quite literally. Because it turns out, skeletal remains from Indonesia dating back 25,000 years show that humans held betel nuts in their mouths, creating a physical dependence on these pain reliever.
We’ve only grown more sophisticated and technologically advanced since then. Now, we don’t even depend on little paper rolls to get our fix. We use disposable plastic machines that taste like watermelon. And it seems that, more than ever, teens are becoming more and more dependent on vapes, with 18-year-old Freddie Janman warning everyone about their dangers after his hospitalization.
In recent years, cigarettes have gone out of style, and flavored vapes with nicotine have become a trend among Gen Z and even Gen Alpha
Freddie Janman, an 18-year-old, recently described his experience after six years of using vapes
Vaping has become a popular trend among Gen Z, and Freddie Janman, an 18-year-old boy from the U.K., was hospitalized earlier this year after using vapes for six years. In an interview with UniLad, the teen admitted he was introduced to the habit when he was 12 by his friends, who were also becoming dependent on nicotine without even realizing. He pointed out that vaping “just looked really innocent.”
What attracts people to vapes rather than typical cigarettes is that the nicotine is barely noticeable among the different flavors in vapes. That's exactly what Janman realized. “It tasted nice, and I got a bit of a buzz from it,” he said. But what he believed was an activity he did with friends that seemed innocent quickly spiraled into a full-blown dependence without him noticing.
He started using it at 12, after his friends lured him in to what seemed like an innocent activity
Even though he tried to quit three times, the teen was severely dependent on nicotine, and at 16 years old, he was diagnosed with chest infections
“You’d be vaping at school in the toilets,” he said. “Everyone would sneak off and get inside the cubicles together and be vaping.” This is a direct illustration of what experts describe as substance use disorder, showing secretive use, compulsive urges, and peer-group normalization. The teens took extra steps to conceal their substance use, avoid consequences, and continue having access to the vape.
Through these continuous efforts, Freddie admits that he managed to keep his dependene a secret from his parents, despite getting new 2,400-puff refillables for his vape every other day. However, the teen was diagnosed with asthma at just three years old, and any activity involving smoking makes him more prone to lung diseases. Which is exactly what happened.
But two years later, he had to be hospitalized for four days after he was unable to breathe normally
At age 16, Freddie had already been to the doctor’s multiple times due to chest infections, and he admitted that this was when he finally came clean about his dependence on the substance. This led him to try quitting three times, but it proved unsuccessful, which isn't surprising. Research shows that modern vapes end up being even more alluring since the nicotine triggers a spike in dopamine, and with their formula, vapes hit the nicotinic receptors even faster than normal cigarettes.
But then, on March 30, 2026, Janman felt like his chest “was really tight,” and that his heart felt “like it was squeezed.” It was almost as if he was “breathing out of a straw.” That’s when his girlfriend, Zoe, drove him to the hospital. At just 18 years old, he was admitted to the hospital for four nights, as his condition worried doctors. But he was determined to turn his life around.
The hospital decided to put him in contact with a Stop Smoking nurse, who made him realize that vaping is a “serious epidemic” and that while most people are aware of it, they don’t “really understand the scale” it has reached. After using nicotine gum and patches under the nurse’s supervision, paired with a beclometasone inhaler to help with inflammation in his airways, he was finally feeling healthy again. He described his health now as “night and day.”
Unfortunately, Freddie’s case is hardly the only one. In recent studies conducted among vape users, roughly 25% reported daily use, with 85% of youth vapers opting for flavored products, particularly fruit and candy flavors. Despite this high number, research also shows that over 60% report wanting to quit. But just like any dependence, it isn’t that simple, and it takes a lot of hard work, making Freddie the perfect inspiration for anyone hoping to quit for good.
Readers condemned the use of vapes, sharing their own opinions on smoking
