The chase is on: Regulators are slowly cracking down on vapes aimed at teens

Nearly two years after the FDA issued a policy denouncing the marketing of fruit-flavored vape juice and other vape products to young people, the products are still widely available in stores. But experts hope that could be about to change. (Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post via Getty Images)

Samuel Rose says he was raised by a devoted single mom who warned all her seven children to avoid drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. But when his high school friend urged him to try making vapor rings with a Juul e-cigarette five years ago, Rose figured there was no danger — vaping was billed as a healthier alternative to smoking.

"I never picked up a cigarette, but I picked up a vape just fine because I was like, 'OK, I can still get the buzz of nicotine but not get cancer from it — it's not dangerous,' " Rose says. Plus, he says, every living soul his age in Gaffney, S.C, seemed to think the same thing back then.