At many high schools across the country, cigarette-smoking rates have fallen, but a recent report by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) suggests kids have replaced smoking with vaping.
That seems to be the case at I.S.D. 166 as well.
At the I.S.D. 166 February school board meeting Mitch Dorr, assistant K-12 principal, gave an update about vaping and e-cigarettes (electronic cigarettes).
Mitch brought some of the items used for vaping, and he displayed them to the board.
Juuhl labs of San Francisco makes one item he displayed. It is thin and looks like a flash drive and is easy to hide. “You see these in convenience stores where they are prominently displayed,” he said.
Juuhls come with a pod that can be filled with liquids that are smoked and vaporless. They operate on a battery that can be easily recharged. Because they are so small, they can be easily hidden.
The pods might be filled with flavors like bubble gum or fruit loops and leave a fruity smell after they have been inhaled. Or, some liquids leave little or no trace of scent after being smoked.
While there are hundreds of flavors to choose from, some people load the pods with nicotine, olive oil, PHC… “We as administrators don’t know what’s in the pods,” said Mitch, adding, “When kids smoke cigarettes, we see the smoke.”
According to the 2017 study by the CDC, about 50 percent more high school students and middle school students vape, rather than smoke. However, the report also noted that when vaping nicotine and smoking cigarettes was added together, nicotine abuse might have actually increased among high school students.
While researchers are working hard to find out how severe side effects of vaping can be, a new study indicates that some of the common chemicals used to flavor vape juice could harm blood vessels. Vaping also likely increases the chance a teen will transition to other drug abuse.
Just the week before the school board meeting Mitch said he had attended a fourday principals’ conference in the Twin Cities and found that vaping was a problem in all of the schools.
The term “vaporizer” refers to battery-powered devices with a heating element and is a term that includes the specific vaporizer device of e-cigarettes. Vaporizers produce an aerosol, small particulates suspended in air and vapor, the gas phase of chemicals, that users inhale. The liquid used in vaporizers comes in hundreds of flavors, which are available both with and without nicotine.
“This is definitely happening in our community. We are trying to be consistent in how we are handling it,” he told the school board.
Suspending kids for vaping isn’t necessarily the best thing to do, he said. Instead, “First we need to try to educate the kid.” And if that doesn’t work, he added that at some point suspension might be in order. At the end of the school year, Mitch said, “We will look at our discipline policy and get on the same page as other schools.”
Right now I.S.D. 166 is following its tobacco policy for vaping offenders.
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, the county, and the hospital have all offered the school support in stemming the tide of vaping.
In the meantime, teachers and administrators are on the lookout for offenders, but as Mr. Dorr said, “They are sneaky,” with some of the kids hiding their vaporizers in their socks.
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