Vapes Disguising as School Supplies
Long gone are the days of hiding the cigs in your backpack.
Just in time for the new school year, e-cig manufacturers have realized that the only thing more appealing to high-school students than a creamsicle-flavored vape is a creamsicle-flavored vape that looks like a neon highlighter.
Available from the internet, or the black market, many vapes being sneaked into schools this year look like school supplies. And it’s not just highlighters. It’s USB drives, ballpoint pens, and more.
Authorities are warning parents about these. Government officials around the country are worried that the undetectable nature of these e-cigs will threaten efforts to curb teen nicotine usage. While the FDA has tried to regulate the vaping industry, e-cig manufacturers keep getting around it. Like…
1) The FDA banned flavors for cartridge-based e-cigs, like Juuls, in 2020. But that doesn’t apply to disposable vapes, which are used by more than half of the high-school and middle-school students who partake.
2) Since 2020, the number of different vape devices in the U.S. has tripled to nearly 9,000, according to the Associated Press, caused by an influx of unauthorized vapes from China. Yeah, that country, the one we all hold dearly to our hearts.
So…
As the industry continues to innovate faster than the FDA can regulate, some state governments are trying to stop vaping. On 9/1/23, a Texas law took effect that will send students caught with a vape to an alternative school disciplinary program.
What does this new law do to and for Texican high-school students?
It requires students caught with vapes at the school to be placed in an alternative schooling environment, or Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP). (Too bad they couldn’t have come up with an acronym VAPE).
If the DAEP is full, a student can be placed in in-school suspension until space is available to transfer them. That rule also applies to students with marijuana, THC or alcohol.
But…
Once a student is in the program, there is a conference with parents, administrators and the student.
Why not BEFORE they enter the program - like a “one-strike you’re out” system?
And, let’s add ANOTHER obligation to our teaching staff - monitoring hallways, restrooms, parking lots so they become the Vape Police.
Of course, this is a problem - but the more you tell a kid they can’t have it, the more they want it.
Parents, do your job - talk with your kids, get in front of it, and help the schools do what you are paying them to do - teach your kids.