Schools step up effort to squelch vaping

Teachers usually have to deal with students getting distracted by cellphones. Now, teachers have another recurring problem: vaping.

It is a weekly occurrence to find high-school and middle-school students with vape products at Hilliard City Schools, said Superintendent John Marschhausen.

Because schools are finding students as young as fifthgraders with vape products, they are doing more to try to prevent vaping, he said.

“I would say it is the biggest health challenge we face with teenagers today,” Marschhausen said.

One problem with students vaping is that the products now can be almost undetectable.

Rob Crane, president of the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation and Tobacco 21, said vape products are well-designed so that kids can use them stealthily.

Juul, a brand of e-cigarette, can easily be concealed in a hand because it is less than 4 inches long and resembles a flash drive. A Juul pod is a cartridge that contains nicotine and comes in flavors such as mango, mint and watermelon that take away the typical odor of a cigarette, also aiding in concealment.

“It’s so carefully done that you don’t have any vape or smoke associated with it, so kids can do it below the scrutiny of teachers,” Crane said.

Vaping among teenagers starts out most often recreationally. Eventually, medical experts warn, the nicotine in the products makes vaping highly addictive and dangerous to a teen’s health.

Dr. Frances Adkins, a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said she has seen an increase in vaping among teens in the past couple of years, and most of them don’t recognize smoking and vaping as the same thing.