Clover students caught ‘vaping’ at school. How dangerous is e-cig trend?
Clover students were caught using e-cigarettes in their school in January, reflecting a trend among youth.
E-cigarettes, sometimes referred to as vapes or vape pens, produce a mix of small particles in the air that typically contains chemicals which the user inhales, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many of the battery-powered devices contain nicotine, a highly addictive substance.
E-cigarettes can also be used with marijuana and other drugs, according to the CDC.
E-cigarette use has increased by 48 percent among middle school students and 78 percent among high school students, according to the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the CDC.
In 2017, the York County All on Board Coalition conducted the York County Student Perception Survey to gauge drug use and perceptions among middle and high school students.
More than 44 percent of seventh-, ninth- and eleventh-grade students the All on Board Coalition surveyed said they believe there is no risk or slight risk to using e-cigarettes.
While the aerosol produced by e-cigarettes typically contains fewer harmful chemicals than regular cigarette smoke, they are not considered safe, according to the CDC. Those who use e-cigarettes may be more likely to smoke regular cigarettes in the future.
JUUL, a brand of e-cigarette that looks like a flash drive, contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes, according to the CDC. Nicotine can harm brain development in those under age 25, the CDC reports.
JUUL remains one of the more popular vape brands and is often used by those under 18 years old, said Alex Greenawalt, prevention coordinator with Keystone Substance Abuse Services of York County. She said flavors and convenience attract youth to the JUUL device.
“The JUUL was originally intended to help wean adults off of heavy cigarette use,” Greenawalt said. “It’s not meant to be in the hands of someone under 18.”
In 2018, about five of every 100 middle school students and about 21 of every 100 high school students reported using an e-cigarette device in the past 30 days, a slight increase from 2011, reports the CDC.
Greenawalt said Keystone gets referrals for York County students from school resource officers, teachers and administrators, many related to JUUL use on campus.
“The biggest place for them to JUUL are in the bathrooms,” she said. “There’s been so many cases where there is one JUUL hidden in the bathroom, somewhere a teacher may not find, and these kids know where it is at so they will take bathroom breaks during class to go in and hit the JUUL.”
That sharing tendency leads to the spread of illnesses, Greenawalt said.
The percentage of York County students in seventh, ninth and eleventh grades who admitted to using e-cigarettes in the 30 days before All on Board’s 2017 survey increased from 9 percent in 2015 to 11 percent in 2017, with the majority of the use being reported by eleventh graders, according to the survey results. The use of alcohol, marijuana and pill use decreased.
All on Board’s survey will be re-administered this year.
New e-cigarettes are also hitting the market at prices of less than a dollar, Greenawalt said. A person has to be 18 or older to legally use the products, but young users are getting them in a variety of ways.
“It’s actually now causing an addiction that’s trending for them to go try your traditional cigarettes,” Greenawalt said. “We get parents calling us up every day here at Keystone basically saying what can we do for our youth who are addicted.”
Greenawalt said the trend has reached multiple areas of York County.
“It’s everywhere; it’s not just one school,” she said.
Several Clover Middle School students were caught in January, passing e-cigarettes and vaping in the school, according to York County Sheriff’s Office police reports. On Jan. 17, two separate incidents from the school were reported.
In one incident, two male seventh graders were caught passing e-cigarettes in a restroom and in the hallway, a police report states. Several sixth-grade female students were caught vaping during class, according to a police report.
Police did not release the names of the students involved due to their age.
Under the Clover school district’s tobacco use policy, students and staff are not allowed to use tobacco products anywhere on school grounds, including in buildings or on buses, or anytime they are under school jurisdiction on or off school grounds.
Prohibited products include cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vaporizers, hookahs and smokeless tobacco, according to district policy.
Students who are caught with tobacco products on campus may receive in-school or out-of-school suspension, may have to enroll in a tobacco education course and may face consequences with law enforcement, Clover’s policy states.
The district strongly enforces the no-tobacco policy and performs random checks in schools, said Bryan Dillon, spokesperson for the Clover school district.
Keystone offers multiple youth education programs on drugs and alcohol use, starting with sixth-grade classes, Greenawalt said.
“At sixth grade, they are already using,” she said. “They’re telling us about the vapes, specifically the JUUL.”
Common myths that surround e-cigarettes include that it is just water vapor, that the user is just smoking a flavor and that the vape device is nicotine-free, all of which are not true, according to the FDA. Many vape devices do contain nicotine and other chemicals that are not safe to inhale.
“As far as the JUUL product, there is nothing that you can buy that is nicotine-free,” Greenawalt said.
Poor regulation by the FDA could mean that even vape devices advertised in stores as nicotine-free may contain the substance, Greenawalt said.
E-cigarettes may lead to health issues, such as what is commonly known as popcorn lung, an irreversible lung disease characterized by coughing and shortness of breath, according to the American Lung Association. Bronchiolitis obliterans is linked to a chemical found in flavoring juices like those used in vape devices.
It’s important for parents to educate themselves and their children on the dangers of e-cigarette use, Greenawalt said.
Where to get help:
- Tobacco-Free York County Coalition: For resources, visit tobaccofreeyork.com.
- Truth Initiative: Visit truthinitiative.org for information.
- Keystone Substance Abuse Services: keystoneyork.org
Quit Vaping Texting Program through Truth Initiative: Text QUIT to 202-804-9884
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 1:59 PM.
