The freshman from Phoenix had long struggled with depression and would cut her arms to feel something. Anything. The first drag from a friend's vape several years ago offered the shy teenager a new way to escape. She quit cutting but got hooked on nicotine. Her sadness got harder to carry after her uncle died, and she felt she couldn't turn to her grieving parents for comfort. Bumming fruity vapes at school became part of her routine.
Among U.S. adults with any mental illness, 25 percent are current smokers—more than double the rate for those without mental illness. Patients with serious mental illness have substantially elevated smoking rates, with schizophrenia rates as high as 80 to 90 percent.