Students bringing vape cigarettes to schools
E-cigarettes or vape cigarettes are still a relatively new item in store shelves and smoke shops. For some parents in Rexburg, they’re learning about these vapor cigarettes from their teens, as classmates bring the devices to school.
“I actually heard about it at church,” said Tracy Ball, a mom of a Madison Junior High student. “We were concerned about it with our youth, and that’s where I first heard about it.”
Ball is not alone. Many parents said their kids are talking to them about the new devices. Madison Junior High administrators said they’ve caught six students with the e-cigarettes since last October. It’s something Principal Randy Lords isn’t taking lightly.
“I’ve met with our health teachers, our physical education teachers and their departments,” said Lords. “We talked a little bit about what we’re seeing here locally, as well as on the national level.”
Lords said they’ve asked teachers to be on the lookout for vapor pens, as they’re sometimes called. If a student is caught, “we treat it very similar to (drug) paraphernalia,” said Lords. “We let local law enforcement take it from there.”
E-cigarettes were initially created to help smokers quit. Since their initial market introduction, many companies are now advertising the items for smokers and nonsmokers alike.
Regular cigarettes are heavily regulated and are well known for their negative health effects. E-cigarettes are still new enough that they aren’t heavily regulated. This has some in the health community very concerned. The FDA said many of the “vape liquids” used in the function of an e-cigarette contain nicotine as well as other known cancer-causing chemicals.
“They (the students) don’t know what’s in them,” said Ball. “We don’t really know what’s in them. They’re easy to hide. The smell is not like a cigarette. I don’t think they understand the dangers of them.”
Lords encourages parents to educate themselves on the dangers of the e-cigarettes and to talk with their kids about them.
Rexburg city leaders are planning on holding a town meeting to discuss the issue. They plan to set the date for that meeting Wednesday.
