Indopedia All Things Marijuana
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Teenage rebels looking to dull the edge, show off to their peers, or get high at school could run into increased scrutiny on campus. American school administrators, teachers, and parents are seeking out new detection tools, increased awareness, and more severe punishments for what they say is a huge problem with nicotine and cannabis vaporizers. Html” target=” blank”>reports from the Chicago Tribune this week, high school administrators in Illinois have proposed installing vapor detectors in bathrooms, increasing penalties, and creating new education tools to combat student vaping – bemoaning difficulties in recognizing the discreet smoking tools as well as distinguishing between nicotine and cannabis use. Html” target=” blank”>In Naperville, Illinois, school administrators specifically named nicotine vaporizer brand Juul, which is made up of a USB stick-sized battery and replaceable nicotine pods. That modular, ready-to-vape design is seen across America’s cannabis products, with a number of THC vaporizer cartridges indistinguishable from their e-cig counterparts.
Vaporizers containing nicotine, cannabis or other liquids are already banned at high schools across the country, but according to administrators, quickly dissipating vapor and unidentifiable smells has made the trend hard to corrall.
“It’s something that the kids are a little bit more bold with compared to cigarettes,” Naperville Central High School dean of students Mike Stock told the Tribune about student vaporizer use. “Sometimes they’re doing it out in the open, waiting for buses. Html” target=” blank”>school administrators in New Trier, Illinois have recommended installing vapor detectors in school bathrooms, supplementing smoke detectors to sniff out any type of airborne infraction.
Still, while the extent of the vapor detection device use is unknown, a report from the New York Times last week claims that vaporizer use has continued in New York City schools, with Juul once again named as a common sighting in the halls of Manhattan’s private institutions.
Like cannabis extracts, vaping liquids are a relatively new technological advancement, and scientists are still trying to determine their long-term health effects, but an Times reporter Ginia Bellafante found that lab mice exposed to nicotine vapor for 12 weeks showed changes in their DNA, and a possibly increased risk for cancer and heart disease.
So while parents and administrators are understandably concerned about undetectable teenage cannabis use, the primary worry remains nicotine-based cigarette substitutes, especially considering America’s incredibly successful cultural campaign to end traditional cigarette use. Html” target=” blank”>told the Chicago Tribune.
