While two students smoked e-cigarettes in the girls locker room, senior Julie Scott watched in disbelief.

Scott said after one girl had finished changing, the girl offered her friend, who had just entered the locker room, an e-cigarette to smoke.

“No one seemed to think it was a big deal at all,” Scott said.

In the United States, e-cigarette usage by students grades 6 to 12 has more than doubled in one year, according to a Sept. 6, 2013 report released by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Senior Eris Spicer said she noticed increasing student use of e-cigarettes on the North Shore, especially over the summer.

During the school year, Scott said she has also seen students smoking e-cigarettes in cars.

An e-cigarette “doesn’t really leave as much of a trace” which is appealing to students because it is hard to detect, Scott said.

In Jan. 2014, however, an Illinois law is scheduled to come into effect which prohibits minors from using and purchasing e-cigarettes.

Clara Schroedl, instructor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at Northwestern University, supports the legislation.

“I definitely think it’s the right precedent to set because we’re saying it’s not okay,” Schroedl said.

Schroedl doubted the law’s effectiveness though because of demand and student craftiness.

Sophomore Matt Aminilari said while the law may deter some adolescent e-cigarette smokers, many will react by smoking in a private setting.

Scott said older students are currently selling e-cigarettes to younger students and that their sales will increase because minors, under the new law, will look to illegally acquire e-cigarettes through those 18 years or older.

“As soon as you start your freshman year of high school you are in contact with people who are 18 years old,” said Scott. “These 18-year-olds would probably look to make a profit off of selling [e-cigarettes].”

Spicer said the legislation would be effective because it is easy for students to quit.

A lot of students only smoke e-cigarettes for the enjoyment of “blowing smoke out of their mouth,” Spicer said, rather than for physical pleasure.

Scott said advertising has portrayed smoking as an activity for cool and confident people. This image is perpetuated by e-cigarettes because smokers look like they have friends, as smoking is a social activity.

Schroedl said the variety of flavors, like cotton candy, that are offered for e-cigarettes is appealing to students.

“Just by the fact that [companies] offer those type of flavors in e-cigarettes suggests to me that they’re trying to target a youth population,” Schroedl said.

Schroedl said that while the e-cigarette concept may be “a healthier alternative in the sense that it’s primarily just nicotine” and likely does not contain many carcinogens found in regular cigarettes, there are still additives and flavorings present.

According to Spicer, e-cigarette smokers can choose the amount of nicotine, if any, laced with the water vapor.

Spicer said she knew one kid who overused e-cigarettes, boosting his nicotine level to the point where he had to be relocated to a rehabilitation center.

Schroedl believes the overall trend in e-cigarette usage is troubling.

“I have a really hard time thinking about a bunch of kids getting hooked on nicotine from e-cigarettes, because they’re either going to have to keep smoking e-cigarettes or they’re going to transition into regular cigarettes,” said Schroedl. “And to me that’s a really scary thought, when we’ve gotten our smoking levels the lowest they’ve ever been.”