Chemical Breath

Chemical Breath presents two focused ethnographies that look at the relationship between young people and the inhaling of tobacco and synthetic cannabinoids. The first comes from a group of young people in Paris who smoke electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), who refer to themselves as “vapoteurs,” and the second comes from a group of young people in Makassar who smoke synthetic cannabinoids. The young people partaking in these popular practices value the social bonding they experience; they are also bombarded with social media messages encouraging the use of these products. And both face harms that may increase the precariousness of their lives: the Makassarian youth face imprisonment if discovered, and the health consequences of these synthetics are not fully understood. Similarly, the Parisian youth also risk lung damage, as vaping, while advertised as “safer” and sought out as a means to reduce the harms associated with cigarette smoke, exposes consumers to chemicals that either are understudied or known to be threats to health. The chapter concludes by pointing how these young people’s lives would benefit from sensible government regulation.