Teenage vaping: Ill have puffs as Im falling asleep
BBC By Kirstie Brewer & Panorama team
BBC News
Vaping has become a way of life for Leia, 17, alongside a growing number of children across the UK. She spoke to BBC Panorama about the hold vaping has over her life - and her determination to quit.
Leia tips a bag full of used disposable vapes on to her bed.
They're brightly coloured and come in flavours such as pink lemonade, cotton candy and gummy bear.
"The flavouring makes it so much nicer than having a cigarette," says the teenager, from Newcastle.
Leia started smoking cigarettes when she was 12 and switched to vapes at 14 as a healthier alternative.
Health experts largely agree that vapes - or e-cigarettes - are a good way to wean adults off smoking. This is because it is widely thought that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking because there are far fewer toxins in vapes than in tobacco smoke.
But the e-cigarette vapour that is inhaled can still contain chemicals, including nicotine, which is highly addictive.
Scientists are looking into the potential health risks of vaping and they say it could be decades before the long-term effects are fully known.
