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Calling youth vaping a public health emergency that must be immediately addressed, Palo Alto Human Relations commissioners are urging the city to control vaping among teens, just as the California Department of Public Health has issued a warning about the health risks of the popular method of inhaling vaporized tobacco and marijuana using an e-cigarette.
The commissioners voted 5-0 on Sept. 12, with members Patricia Regehr and the Rev. Kaloma Smith absent, to send a memo asking the City Council to direct city staff to work with them, the Palo Alto Youth Council, Palo Alto Unified School District and community partners. Among the actions the commission is requesting: the exploration of changes to laws, regulations and enforcement; preventative, educational and outreach efforts; and additional funding for treatment and related services.
Vaping has become popular with youth, aided by chemical additives that taste and smell like cotton candy, watermelon and other flavors.
The memo, which was moved by Commissioner Steven Lee and seconded by Chair Gabriel Kralik, authorized Lee and Commissioners Daryl Savage and Valerie Stinger to draft the memo and Kralik, Savage and Stinger to form an ad hoc committee to study vaping.
“This is an emergent public need that needs to be addressed. It’s a terrible phenomenon that’s going on with our children,” Kralik said after hearing a report from two experts from the nonprofit Adolescent Counseling Services and statements by a student and the parents of children who have become addicted.
Kyle Greenman and Samantha Rivas of Adolescent Counseling Services’ Adolescent Substance Abuse Program, said vaping, which was introduced in 2007, has become the most common form of inhaling nicotine, with a 600% surge in sales between 2016 and 2017.
Depending on the product, the “pod” (which contains the vaping liquid) contains between 41 mg and 90 mg of nicotine; a traditional cigarette contains 20 mg. The vaping liquid also contains a wide range of cancer-causing chemicals, they said.
Authorities suspect the habit could be deadly. As of Tuesday, 90 people in California who have a history of vaping have been hospitalized for severe breathing problems and lung damage this year, and two people have died, according to the department.
On Tuesday, the health department issued a health advisory warning the public to refrain from vaping, no matter the substance or source, until current investigations into the cause of the reported serious lung damage have been completed. The advisory follows an executive order by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week to confront the growing youth-vaping epidemic and its health risks.
Almost one in three teens in Santa Clara County have tried electronic cigarettes, according to the California Student Tobacco Survey, which was administered last fall and published in August. The survey of 18 schools found that more than 13% of high school students currently use e-cigarettes, while only 1.4% currently smoke cigarettes.
The habit starts is fairly inexpensive to start. A liquid pod typically costs $8 to $10 and a device starts at $20. Teens often acquire them as gifts from a friend. Boyfriends and girlfriends often have matching vapes, Rivas said. The youngest child she has encountered with a vaping addiction was 12 years old.
Divya Ganesan, Youth Council secretary and a Castilleja School student, told the commissioners that vaping (also known as Juuling, after the popular Bay Area-based company Juul) is common in Palo Alto schools.
“I think if you talk to any teen nowadays and you say ‘cigarettes,’ they would probably say ‘Eww. That’s gross.’ It’s smoky; it makes your clothes smell and it makes you smell. But you talk to a kid who Juuls and Juuling does not make you smell,” she said. “It looks kind of like the new iPhone. It’s really sleek. It’s like a USB drive. You plug it into your computer to charge it. The Juul pods are liquid, so it doesn’t feel messy; it feels clean, making people think it is clean and that’s not the case.
“I think the distinction of making Juul some kind of luxury brand that can be bought like an iPhone is what makes this such a different issue than other substances that teens have abused before like marijuana, alcohol, etc.,” she said.
A mother who spoke before the commission, said her son, a Gunn High School student, became addicted last year.
“Our family went into shambles” trying to control his habit, she said.
Her son and about 50 students started attending smoking parties organized on SnapChat. They sneak the devices into classrooms and have contests to see who can smoke more puffs in class without getting caught. The school district doesn’t have funding to catch kids who are vaping, she said.
Commissioners said they were stunned by the statistics.
“This is a pretty open-and-shut case of taking vulnerable teenagers and hurting them and causing havoc in families and causing havoc in schools,” Kralik said.
He said noted that the Youth Council made a presentation to the City Council months ago, but the council has yet to take action, which he’s found frustrating.
Lee concurred.
“There’s a sense of urgency, and quite frankly, outrage that our public officials haven’t taken action. The scale and breadth of this issue requires that we use … all of the tools in our tool box. The city needs to make this a priority. We need the resources of the city to work with us,” he said.
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Hi Folks,
I understand that this is a serious matter. But why aren’t regular cigarettes being banned as well? BOTH cost millions of dollars in health care issues. It seems that this is just a one sided issue because this is something new. Nicotine is Nicotine no matter what form it comes in and causes all of the same problems. It sounds like big tobacco is trying to snuff out the competition. P.S. I don’t smoke or vape it just all sounds very fishy to me.
Meanwhile the City does nothing to address the Smokes & Vapes shop on the corner of El Camino and Matadero that lies on a designated “Safe Route to School.”
Regarding the 5 stores in Palo Alto that can sell e-cigarettes, they have a permit to sell. According to Alison Cormack on City Council, they can stop new permits from being granted, however there is a question about those with existing permits. If there is a way to take away these permits, that would help solve this situation.
I could not agree more that these places need to be much more accountable and monitors put up to show if those under 18 are able to purchase e-cigarettes at these places or if adults are buying them for young kids who ask them to purchase for them. Of course there is always the online purchases; places like 7-Eleven should be monitored for packages arriving. The packages with e-cigarettes should be very obvious to help stop kids from buying online and shipping to places like 7-Eleven.
I would like to thank the Human Releation Commission for tackling this important topic. I am not really sure who is responsible for tackling this new and difficult topic. I hear about teens vaping all the time.
Is this the responsiblity of the school administrators, school board, city council? All the above?
I’d love to hear from council how they plan to address the sale of JUUL and vaping products in our community, though my guess – if a teen wants to vape, he or she will find a way to do it.
I think education to teens is the best way to combat teens. But I’d like to see our council make it very difficult for them to purchase JUUL products in our community.
Thanks for brining up this topic and thread Palo Alto Weekly
Nicotine vapor bad, marijuana smoke good. Got it.
A number of years ago, before Juul was spun out of Pax Labs, I took (and still have) a photo of a sandwich board sign out in front of Mac’s Smoke Shop offering a discount on Pax devices (their e-cigs now called Juul) “with student ID.” I thought if folks understood at the time what the offer was, they’d be horrified. Mac’s was offering promotional discounts to target students with vaping.
Just fyi, for the person who said this is big tobacco trying to snuff out competition? Altria Group (aka Philip Morris maker of Marlboro et al.), acquired a 35% stake in Juul Labs for $12.8 billion on December 20, 2018.
A thought: I’m glad we live in a state that will make sure that the safe sites for people to inject heroin will be vape free, or be allowed to sell flavored tobacco.
@ Lee: “”There’s a sense of urgency, and quite frankly, outrage that our public officials haven’t taken action . . . ,” he said.
I’m grateful this matter is finally receiving local, state, national, Congressional and Presidential attention. Maybe it will actually make a difference.
With that said, anyone claiming this is “urgent” now, after Juul and other e-cig companies had FOUR years to prey on our high school and middle schoolers, and did so very successfully, is presumptuous. It’s tragic. You’ve all had your head in the sand for four years on this. The “urgency” should’ve kicked in FOUR years ago in 2015 when Juul hit the market and deliberately targeted teens (which Juul executives lied about – thankfully this month the FDA nailed Juul saying they illegally marketed their product). When my student started at Paly is exactly when Juul was introduced, and caught on like wildfire: smoke alarms going off daily in the bathrooms, students vaping in class into their hoodies, vaping everywhere on campus, and vaping at social events outside of school. My student’s entire four year high school career at Paly was affected by vaping!!! As the Gunn Mom said, it’s a nightmare for families and schools (while the Juul CEO Ken Burns, a Paly parent, profited off these newly addicted teens at Paly, Gunn, and around the world). Millions of kids are already Juul’ing and now addicted because of the astronomical nicotine levels compared to cigarettes (and these teens are new e-cig smokers who never smoked cigarettes before).
If the Human Relations Commission thinks they can order the City Council to “control vaping among teens”, they are seriously delusional. As a parent who struggled with vaping that was everywhere during my student’s entire four year high school career, I can promise you can’t order teens to stop anything!
And the fact that Juul (originally called Ploom) was invented by two STANFORD DESIGN SCHOOL STUDENTS WHILE AT STANFORD who are now billionaires after Juul addicted millions of teens, and was bought by Altria is pure evil. Thanks so much Stanford for creating a national health epidemic (I’m an alumna and disgusted). Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Professor of Pediatrics at the Stanford Medical Center, is fighting the good fight to try and combat this epidemic, but let’s not forget it was INVENTED at Stanford.
It was only when people started dying from vaping that my now college student was willing to listen and stop. But four years of damage was already done. My heart breaks for those teens and parents still consumed by this issue, not to mention overwhelmed schools. I wish everyone the best fighting this fight.
Posted by Family Friendly, a resident of Old Palo Alto
>> Nicotine vapor bad, marijuana smoke good. Got it.
A serious education effort needs to get underway regarding vaping. Some of the now notorious injuries caused by vaping were associated with vaping “oils”. I would love to know what Juul et al. knew about the use of their products to vape substances containing a lot of oil. As every SCUBA diver knows, breathing oil vapor is extremely bad for your lungs. COPD (lower exposure over long-term) or lipoid pneumonia (high exposure short-term) can result from breathing air contaminated with oil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diving_hazards_and_precautions . Because most compressor types need oil for lubrication, SCUBA air compressors have a sophisticated system to reduce oil and other contaminants: https://www.leisurepro.com/blog/scuba-gear/scuba-air-compressors-explained/
Strange that legal products would be available that generate highly dangerous levels of oil vapor. “lipoid pneumonia” is the result of breathing oil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid_pneumonia
Going back to my schooldays, I remember many assemblies about the dangers of smoking. Being caught smoking on school campus was immediate summons to the principal’s office. To certain of my peers, the more they were told they were bad for you the more they enjoyed smoking cigarettes at various less salubrious places around the school campus such as behind the trash containers. Not only did they break school rules, they also enjoyed flouting the advice congregating on street corners where they could be readily seen.
Sometimes, the more something is forbidden, the more attractive it becomes.
Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
>> Sometimes, the more something is forbidden, the more attractive it becomes.
Agreed. Many kids will respond better if they hear about it from their peers. Like this one: https://www.health.com/smoking/lipoid-pneumonia-vaping . Here is a news report: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/cdc-says-vaping-lung-cases-surge-52percent-in-the-last-week-to-805-with-at-least-12-deaths.html
PALY Parent says:
<<Is this the responsibility of the school administrators, school board, city council? All the above?>>
Please, parents must share a lot of responsibility here too. Expecting schools and the city council to control your kids’ bad habits is extreme, imo. Yes, vaping is dangerous & laws re: sale of supplies to underage users should be strongly enforced but I hope you speak with your kids about the dangers & supervise their use of tobacco, e-cigs, and alcohol instead of expecting others to do it for you. Look around your kids’ rooms & see what you find, or would that put you in an unwelcome position of “violating their privacy?”
You cannot seriously expect local government & schools to control your kids’ substance abuse, especially when they’re on campus maybe 7-8 hrs per day M-F. The other 16 hours is your business.
Let’s all agree how douchtastic this behavior is and start referring to it as douching rather than vaping.
How will the JUUL investors and executives live’s be affected since they have profited so heavily off of our children’s addiction? Will they have to pay for any of these government programs that will hopefully be put in place? I know Kevin Burns and his family had a wonderful time cruising on their private yacht through the Mediterranean this summer. I think they personally should have to give back every dollar made off of JUUL to fund the medical costs for everyone under 18 facing JUUL related health issues- including overcoming nicotine addiction. JUUL is valued at $38 billion- that’s a good place to start.
If people choose to smoke, drink, vape, or ingest drugs for recreation, it should be their decision. There is no “societal right” to regulate people’s personal recreational behavior as long as it does no harm to others. For example, banning smoking in a restiraunt is reasonable so other non smoking patrons are not subjected to second hand smoke. However banning smoking completely is not consistent with freedom and democracy. If someone wants to vape, it should be their decision, not yours.
Wally, While I agree with most of your post, school aged children are not always capable of making the right decisions, particularly when it comes to those that can have life altering consequences. The simple fact is, children make many foolish decisions, often for bad or illogical reasons. Parents need to step in a stop them from hurting themselves.
Posted by Wally, a resident of Gunn High School
>> If people choose to smoke, drink, vape, or ingest drugs for recreation, it should be their decision. There is no “societal right” to regulate people’s personal recreational behavior as long as it does no harm to others. […] However banning smoking completely is not consistent with freedom and democracy.
That depends. “Vaping” was represented to the public as being a safer way for an individual to dose themselves rapidly (via inhaling rather than ingesting) with nicotine (and, implicitly, other substances), than smoking. If it turns out that vaping entails new and different dangers than smoking, that in itself is a reason why governmental action may be required.
Beyond that, regulation of individual behavior often turns upon the impact on others. Example: seat belts. People who don’t use seat belts and who crash have many secondary effects on other people, including costs of medical care that affect relatives and society at large, EMTs ambulance ER workers, law enforcement, other drivers delayed by fatal or highly injured people along highways, secondary crashes, and so on.
It appears that vaping has dangers unknown to the public. Were the dangers known to the companies and management? That is a civil liability issue that will be in the courts shortly I’m sure.
If I may (editors?) I would like to continue the discussion with a famous quotation. The full original was apparently by “John B. Finch who was the Chairman of the Prohibition National Committee for several years in the 1880s and died in 1887.” https://quoteinvestigator.com/tag/john-stuart-mill/
“Here is the relevant excerpt from an oration Finch gave in Iowa City in 1882:
“”This arm is my arm (and my wife’s), it is not yours. Up here I have a right to strike out with it as I please. I go over there with these gentlemen and swing my arm and exercise the natural right which you have granted; I hit one man on the nose, another under the ear, and as I go down the stairs on my head, I cry out:
““Is not this a free country?”
““Yes, sir.”
““Have not I a right to swing my arm?”
““Yes, but your right to swing your arm leaves off where my right not to have my nose struck begins.”
“”Here civil government comes in to prevent bloodshed, adjust rights, and settle disputes.”
“For decades the saying was used at pro-Prohibition rallies and meetings.”
When civil government comes in to prevent bloodshed, there often are unintended consequences. Think of how people react to “Prohibition”. Yet, if it turns out that vaping is unusually injurious, we might consider prohibition. I would like to start with education and civil liability, and see if that combination does the job. But, keep in mind that -rights- are always in tension with each other, and must be balanced against each other.
@Anon
Why are you hitting other people ?
The Vapeist is only hurting themselves.
Your post does not apply at all to this situation.
“Only hurting themselves”
And the people in society who have to take care of those without insurance.
If you look a bit deeper you’ll realize the monetary costs to society affect more than just the vaper, exactly like we do for cigarette smokers.
Off topic, Critical Thinking is a good class.
@Costs to society
“If you look a bit deeper you’ll realize the monetary costs to society affect more than just the vaper, exactly like we do for cigarette smokers”
So make all activity that can result in possible medical costs illegal. If you look a little deeper, you’ll see that almost anything you do can cause injury and monetary costs to society. You should check out a book on critical thinking, and another on ageism and bias in society
Posted by Wally, a resident of Gunn High School
>> The Vapeist is only hurting themselves.
So, you don’t consider the impact on the family and friends?
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/8/6/20797673/what-utah-doctors-are-saying-about-vaping#aubree-butterfield-who-was-recently-treated-at-the-university-of-utah-hospital-for-lipoid-pneumonia-linked-to-vaping-puts-on-her-oxygen-tube-after-changing-her-oxygen-tank-while-at-her-parents-home-in-brigham-city-on-tuesday-aug-6-2019-earlier-in-the-day-butterfield-joined-doctors-in-discussing-the-dangers-of-vaping-during-a-press-conference-at-the-salt-lake-hospital
>> Your post does not apply at all to this situation.
Actually, it does. But, the post reflects a view of “demon rum” prior to Prohibition. Hence, my caution regarding unintended consequences. I don’t propose Prohibition of vaping, but, I do propose education regarding the dangers– particularly of the acute dangers of vaping oil-containing THC/CBD concoctions as well as oil-based “flavored” vapes of unknown origin, as well as the chronic effects of vaping Juul-originated nicotine.
Nice cloud. LOL!
“it does. But,”
It doesn’t
Posted by Wally, a resident of Gunn High School
>>>> “it does. But,” >> It doesn’t
>> >> The Vapeist is only hurting themselves.
So, you don’t consider the impact on the family and friends?
> There is no “societal right” to regulate people’s personal recreational behavior as long as it does no harm to others.
Remove the legal drinking age. Ten year olds deserve a beer after a hard day at the three R’s.
And two beers after a little league game seems about right.
No “societal right”, after all.
> Ten year olds deserve a beer after a hard day at the three R’s.
Light beers of course. We’re not monsters.
(no “societal right” – what a stupid statement.)
Posted by Wally, a resident of Gunn High School
>> There is no “societal right” to regulate people’s personal recreational behavior as long as it does no harm to others.
According to this article, (at least) 12 deaths, 805 illnesses:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/cdc-says-vaping-lung-cases-surge-52percent-in-the-last-week-to-805-with-at-least-12-deaths.html
At the very least, I think everyone should be informed of the potential danger. Surely most are aware of the chronic danger, but, until recently, most people were led to believe that the near-term danger was less than smoking tobacco products.
Dude, we’re gonna blow some huge clouds behind the gym.
A close relative of mine took a biology class where the professor projected onto the screen a diseased lung that was black from cigarette smoke. The other lung was pink because that individual had never smoked tobacco. This relative was twenty one years of age and her thinking was that smoking is not only bad but it became emotionally integrated in her thinking as well. When one smokes and or vapes one never sees the damage. There is no integration in one’s thinking either rationally or emotionally that this behavior will in time do me in. People want evidence and seeing is believing.
I suggest that the schools require each junior high and senior high school to requite in-depth educational workshops that show the effects of smoking and vaping. When people see the healthy lung and the cancerous one then the contrast will become emotionally integrated in their young minds as well as intellectually. Do they want asthma, COPD and or cancer?
The city council must act immediately to ban vaping. The governors or New York and Massachusetts have already done so. Why is the council taking so long to ACT?
So the CDC publishes a report based on incomplete and contested data. Everyone freaks out blaming the most safe nicotine vape manufacturers, instead of the culpable vitamin E acetate in black market THC vape cartridges. Overall nicotine and tobacco use for teens has had a dramatic decrease in the past decade, even with the popularity of e-cigarettes like Juul in recent years. Let us think critically on who is lobbying such a fast-tracked government response. An all out vape ban will simply de-regulate existing compliant products and move more users to these sub-par, illness creating, illegal black market versions. Great job everyone!
Here are some of the things Ive found specifically in defense of the Juul which may help with the panic:
I have Juuled for a year and have in the last month completely quit Juul, but I nonetheless feel compelled to defend Juul against recent media hype.
In this article, “The Mysterious Vaping Illness ‘That’s Become an Epidemic’” It is clearly stated that the former commissioner of the FDA suspects the increase in hospitalizations are, “link[ed] to illicit products — perhaps related to ingredients including THC — because the main manufacturers of e-cigarettes had not suddenly altered their ingredients on a wide scale. ‘It’s probably something new that has been introduced into the market by an illegal manufacturer, either a new flavor or a new way to emulsify THC that is causing these injuries.’” The teen in the beginning of this story admits that it was THC “carts” he was smoking, with no mention of e-cigarettes. It is no secret that the media has had it out for Juul with organizations such as Truth directly targeting the company, so if they had found pods in his room do you think they would omit it? No. This is an issue of illicit THC products made without any concern for the law or regulation of any degree.
Next we have one of the more wide spread stories of, “Maddie Nelson: The Utah Teen Who Said Vaping Put Her In A Coma.” In this very worrying and sensational case, a rare disease supposedly brought on by vaping landed Ms. Nelson in the hospital and forced into a medically induced coma. The cause of the disease, named Acute Eosinophilic Pneumonia(AEP), is said to be, “fat particles growing inside of [her] lungs that were related to the glycerin in vape juice.” Sources I found from Juul state that, at least in part, pods contain glycerin. This is worrying since the article attributes glycerin to some factor that creates moisture in the lungs, making for the perfect environment for bacteria to grow, and the infection to start. However, Acute Eosinophilic Pneumonia is an extremely rare disease and looking at the National Organization for Rare Disorders website; it states, “Several environmental factors including occupational factors have been shown to trigger AEP including exposure to dust and smoke. It is unlikely that a single environmental factor causes AEP. Most likely, multiple factors are necessary for the development of the disorder, with association of a triggering condition in a predisposed individual. The triggering factor in AEP can be different from one individual to another.” Note that website states a predisposed individual. While this is of course worrisome for the juuler who is predisposed to rare disorders, the same could be said for everyone and every rare disease. Even the link between cigarette smoking and AEP, “is not fully understood.”
Lastly, the news story that I first became familiar with was the story of a Chance Ammirata, whose Lung Collapsed apparently due to vaping. The teen described that a hole had been punched in his lungs and little toxic black spots were left from his juul addiction. This was the first large scale story I had ever seen about the dangers of vaping, Juuling specifically, aside from conversations about nicotine. This story scared my girlfriend so much that she called me, begging me to quit, which I obliged. The irony of this specific story being the catalyst for these last two months of Vape McCarthyism is that that it is, in my opinion and the opinion one American Council on Science and health blogger, that it is completely fake. The lung collapse of this teen is much more likely to be the result of Pneumothorax being a risk factor in “very tall thin people” who are prone to the collapse of the lung with the mere abrasion of its encompassing sack. As for the toxic black marks, they are present in many of the residents of industrial society due to everyday pollution. This story was the ego project teen who just wanted attention.
To wrap this post up I’ll provide my own dictum. Stop Juuling*. The “*” means that this applys to people who peace of mind. I did not write this to belittle these stories(with the exclusion of the last). Vaping has ill effects. There are effects we aren’t even sure about, but that doesn’t warrant the outright sensational coverage the media has given to vaping. Because of people like Chance Ammirata people will see the lies and refuse to accept any dangers associated with vaping. That isn’t good. However, bombarding people with stories that have these loopholes in the hopes that it scares people into quitting isn’t the right way to make people aware of the dangers of vaping.
In the end, I quit because I’m whipped and I prefer the occasional unfiltered Lucky Strike to ripping the Juul all day. But I came to that conclusion based on my own reason, not superficial hit pieces. God Bless, Juul cowboys.
Get working on that popcorn lung now, it won’t take long at all! I guess you won’t be competing with me in the job market 😉
Why are the Paly bathrooms still FULL of vaping? How is the administration ignoring this? They are apparently unusable.
Posted by ALB, a resident of College Terrace
>> The city council must act immediately to ban vaping. The governors or New York and Massachusetts have already done so. Why is the council taking so long to ACT?
At this point, I don’t know if vaping plain, unflavored, un-oiled, nicotine is more or less dangerous than cigarettes. I’m not sure that it is a good step forward to completely ban vaping (or, ban most bad/dangerous things) for that matter. I think we need to study the dangers and publicize them.
In the past 10 years at least three kids and parents have been hit by speeding cars/careless drivers while walking to/from school ion Barron Park residential streets. Two of them were killed. The speed limit is 25 mph. This number of injuries/deaths far exceeds those from vaping. Why aren’t we banning or at least cracking down on all the cars on residential streets when kids are trying to get to/from school. ? It’s a shame kids have to fear just getting TO or FROM school.
Posted by Forrest Trees, a resident of Gunn High School
>> In the past 10 years at least three kids and parents have been hit by speeding cars/careless drivers while walking to/from school ion Barron Park residential streets. Two of them were killed.
Since you “asked”, perhaps you would like to know what shortens the life of average, modern Americans the most?
Guess what? The top life-shortener has long been smoking.
The fact that several bathrooms at Paly have become so rife with vaping that they were closed as well as some causing the fire alarms to go off, are real problems and if this is still ongoing there obviously hasn’t been enough done to curtail vaping on campus.
I don’t know what it takes but the High Schools must make a stand, parents must make a stand and youth must listen.
It seems to me that they can get so worried about climate control yet care so little about the toxins they are putting in their own bodies. Youth will always jump on the bandwagon about social issues over which they have no control but yet do little to prevent what they do have control over, their own bodies. Rather than leave school to protest about the big things, perhaps they should be shown how to be in charge of the issues they can control.
Oh what to do?!?! Our hands are tied!! There simply is no way we can control kids vaping in our HS bathrooms! It’s simple impossible!!!
No wait, here’s how: You have teachers or other school reps take a shift by monitoring the restrooms between classes. Everyone has an assigned shift
It’s so ridiculously simple that failure to not do it shows “support by inaction” by our schools.
@Anon
You’re incorrect. You shouldn’t spread your weak opinion as fact.
Per the CDC, the top “life shortened” (your word) things are
1. heart disease
2.cancer,
3. accidents
4. Chronic lower respiratory disease
…
Etc
Ref:
https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death
Go after accidents before Vaping.
In Palo Alto the statistics overwhelmingly show accidents with vehicles as THE number one risk to our youth. Do you care to learn more… research deaths of Palo Alto youths. Not one due to vaping.
Posted by Not Anon, a resident of Gunn High School
>> You’re incorrect. You shouldn’t spread your weak opinion as fact.
>> Per the CDC, the top “life shortened” (your word) things are
You are confusing cause and effect. Smoking is a leading cause of heart disease, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease. Since you asked, though: to refine the picture further, in recent years obesity/sedentary-lifestyle is catching up with smoking, and, if you adjust for “Quality-Adjusted Life Years” — that is, give more weight to healthy years, then obesity/sedentariness may actually exceed smoking (!) in impact. Here you go: https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2809%2900763-6/fulltext
So, quit smoking, skip the sugar, and go for a walk– but don’t get hit by a car. We don’t want the accident rate to go up.
^ Giving more weight to less weight?
Kids vape in front of adults at the school. Adults report it and the admin will not nothing. There is no consequence. No referrals, no Saturday school, no call to parents NOTHING. It is easier for kids to vape at Paly than anywhere else. They can take more drugs at this school than they could at any concert.
Second hand poisons lurking in the small dirty bathrooms are a problem that also needs to be addressed. They need non smoking bathrooms for those that do not want to be poisoned.
The admin could have daily backpack checks, actually monitor bathrooms, locker checks, but they will not. They could but they stand in one spot all together and tell each other things are fine. It is not that difficult to have female a male admin which they have notice 6 kids in the disability stalls filling the bathroom up with toxins. The head of the district will also just listen to the principals and NEVER LOOK for himself and believe what they say. The truth is that kids have reported it and nothing was done and adults have reported it and nothing was done. No consequences and now the consequences for children allowed to poison themselves and others at school is permanent lung damage and an addiction.
Vaping is a public health emergency and the activity should be banned from public areas of the city, as is cigarette smoking. We’re not even at the tip of the iceberg yet for long-term effects of vaping, and people are already getting lung infections or worse.
JR.
Yes. We do not know what is lingering when the chemicals are heated in oils that cling to the respiratory system. There is no way to know exactly what chemicals are put together or how to track it down because there is no oversight. The aerosols also are not safe. What happened to protecting the environment with this generation also. The plastic and aerosols and poisons are not clean. At least the kids in 70”. Just rolled up some weeds and put it in paper- at least it was all biodegradable. They at least had adults shooing them out of school buildings and into their own homes or parks. Everyone was not exposed to it daily in a creepy, creepy way while adults watch them poison themselves and others. As a Parent, I would love to have my kid caught as early as possible by school staff. They look the other way and let it go and kids get addicted fast by doing about 2 packs a day worth .
At the school without oversight we can only be sure if any kid wants to vape at school, it is very, very easy for them.