SPOKANE, Wash. — Teens vaping and smoking e-cigarette devices is a growing problem around the country. The number of students vaping in Spokane schools hit a record high last year with the devices exploding in popularity.
“We had significant numbers that we were suddenly responding to compared to the past,” said Shawn Jordan, director of secondary schools for the Spokane Public Schools.
During the 2017 school year, the district saw only 185 tobacco related behavior violations – but last year was a much different story.
“‘We had 558 incidents of tobacco violations, most of them being vaping devices,” Jordan said.
With the youngest violations coming from a fourth-grade classroom, school administrators are aggressively dealing with this rise in vaping.
A 2018 Healthy Youth survey from the state Department of Health found that students 20 percent of 8th graders in Spokane reported using an e-cigarette or vape pen in the last month compared to 10 percent of 8th graders statewide. That percentage goes up for 10th graders and even more for 12th graders at 34 percent of students.
“They have gotten very good at being discreet about it,” Jordan added.
Marketing techniques could be to blame, as the devices are becoming smaller and more easily hidden and flavors are becoming more enticing to younger populations.
“I think it’s pretty hard to argue that tutti frutti and cotton candy are flavors aimed at adults. In their mind it’s not smoking,” Jordan said.
The study found that 76 percent of 10th graders in Spokane think there is a perceived risk of regular cigarette smoking but only 37 percent think there is a great risk or harm from regular vape pen or e-cigarette use.
Forty percent of 10th graders smoking in Spokane report using liquid nicotine, which research shows poses dangers to the developing brain.
“Many of our students and young people today are disgusted at smoking but they think vaping is cool and safe. It's just a lack of information our students have and lack of information on long-term effects,” Jordan said.
School administrators are tackling this issue head-on as students start off the school year. More communication with parents, posters and media around the school displaying the dangers, and education in health classes are all ways the school district hopes to lower the tobacco infractions.
“We realize this is also an addiction, so we want to be sensitive to that,” he said.
Drug and alcohol counselors then step in with one-on-one time.
“So it’s been a challenge and it’s consumed a lot of time and we want to be proactive when facing situations like this,” Jordan said.
The school district is also considering special detectors that sign vape detection.
“We are waiting to see where it goes. We know that some schools are piloting that and we are paying attention to that,” Jordan said.
The Spokane Regional Health District's board voted unanimously in 2016 to ban vaping in public places.
