By Eva Carroll – Staff Reporter

Netflix came out with a new documentary series called “Broken” on November 27 which investigates the consequences of negligent and deceitful production and marketing of popular consumer items.

Episode 2 of “Broken” is called “Big Vape” and puts e-cigarette companies under the microscope. The documentary features Jonathan Law to show the increase of youth vaping in recent years.

“I think we should be proud of our school community being out front on this issue,” Jonathan Law principal Mr. Thompson said. “This is happening all around the nation, in high schools everywhere, we are brave and confident enough to honestly present our school’s journey, and our community’s journey, in dealing with vaping.”

A producer from Netflix, Sarah Johansen, first contacted Thompson in October of 2018 hoping that he would allow Netflix to capture an inside perspective on teen vaping. 

Thompson met with the seniors from last year to see if they wanted to be a part of the episode. Bella Carroll, 18, Cali Jolley, 18, Ally Stein, 18 and Julie Myers, 18, all agreed to be interviewed and signed a contract of consent to participate in the film.

“Thank you to the whole school for letting us film, and extra big shout-out to Bella, Cali, Ally and principal Thompson for giving such great, thoughtful interviews,” Johansen said. 

The filmers came to Law on November 27 to get footage for the episode. In the episode, the seniors talk about their addictions to nicotine as well as how they were introduced to popular vaping products such as Juul. 

The seniors reveal how students were able to access and use vaping products in school. Bella recounts on how students would camp out in the bathroom stalls to vape or hide their Juuls in their sleeves and sneak “rips” during class.

“Some difficult parts of the film was that every other student would try to get in the shot which would disrupt the filming and than we had to record parts again,” Stein said.

The episode also included a separate interview segment with Thompson. Thompson talks about how, as an administrator, he has noticed youth vaping has increased over the years. 

The senior girls were called down during free periods of their day to get interviewed. After the day ended, Bella gave the producers her address to get interviewed more thoroughly at her home. 

The next morning, on November 28, the film crew came to the Carroll residence before school to record Bella’s morning routine. This footage is at the very beginning of the episode and includes Bella putting on her makeup and driving to school. 

“I thought it was interesting that the film crew drew attention to making sure I seemed like just any high school student,” Bella Carroll said. 

The addictive property in e-cigarette products comes from nicotine inside the vape fluid. Nicotine is an addictive stimulant drug that speeds up messages traveling between the brain and body.

“Big Vape” talks about purposeful marketing tactics used by vaping companies such as flavorings and “hipster” ad campaigns to lure in teenage users. Unsuspecting teens are misled into thinking that vaping products are not bad for you.

“I think teen vaping is dangerous because when you’re 13-14 years old, you do not fully understand what addiction is,” Cali said. “Kids continue vaping probably thinking that they will not get addicted and that’s why high school students get addicted so quickly.”

“Big Vape” closes the episode by talking about the future of the vaping industry. Cali, Bella, Julie, and Myers explain how they plan on dealing with their addictions. Thompson expresses concerns about how help needs to be delivered to this generation of vapers.