Different from traditional smoking in that a battery-powered heating device vaporizes liquid in a cartridge or reservoir, vaping has become the most frequent use of tobacco products among adolescents. Their use has skyrocketed in recent years, and now almost 2.5 million middle and high school students throughout the U.S. use e-cigarettes, far surpassing traditional combustible cigarettes.
Because vaping isn’t like old-fashioned cigarettes, many parents mistakenly believe that they aren’t dangerous. Sadly, that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. Just like a combustible cigarette, vaping introduces nicotine, a highly addictive substance, into the body.
Nicotine can cause slow development in teens and affect memory, concentration, learning, self-control, attention, and mood, as well as increasing the risk of other types of addiction later in life. Additionally, vaping can cause severe lung injuries and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke later in life.
When some alert principals reported the possibility of vaping occurring in some campus restrooms, the issue was turned over to Technology Director Nate Jackson, who did some research and located the detectors, and with a view to preventing vaping on campus, Marietta Public Schools has installed vaping monitors in restrooms.
“It takes very little to set off the detectors,” said Jackson. “When we say vaping, we’re talking about both tobacco and THC. The monitors detect any vapor in the air and send an alert to building principals or nearest teachers and to me.”
If students are caught vaping, they could face a fine and completion of a Vape Education Program before they can return to school. The program teaches about the negative effects of vaping.
“Just the presence of the monitor deters vaping,” Jackson explained, “and that’s why we put them in – to prevent it from happening, not so much to catch kids doing it. We want these monitors to be something to help students make smart choices.”