Olds High School (OHS) principal Tom Christensen is alarmed by the amount of vaping occurring in the school.
Vaping devices, also known as e-cigarettes, are battery-operated devices that emit vaporized nicotine, or non-nicotine products to be inhaled in a slim device about the size of thumb drive or Sharpie.
It delivers a nicotine "hit" similar to conventional cigarette smoking, without the smoke.
Vaping was — and still is — often promoted as a way to help people quit smoking, but medical professionals say nicotine is still addictive, whether via vaping or conventional cigarettes.
There's also a concern that while the cancerous effects of conventional cigarettes are well known, it's not yet known what the long-term effects of vaping could be on a person's health.
“We’re aware that many of our students are vaping," said Christensen.
He has no specific stats on how many OHS students are vaping but when asked to what degree the OHS student body is vaping Christensen said, “More than I wish for sure.”
Christensen first noticed the emerging vaping industry in 2015 but the past two years it has developed into a significant problem.
The local principal finds it sad that the teens that are taking up vaping aren’t able to recognize that they may have an addiction.
And the addictiveness of nicotine is what he finds most troubling.
According to the American Council on Chemical Abuse website, "research has shown that nicotine is just as addictive as heroin."
The Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. says withdrawal from nicotine can "cause symptoms similar to withdrawal from other drugs, including irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, restlessness, and increased appetite."
Christensen said he has witnessed students vaping himself and has heard about many other incidents as well.
Christensen considers this new trend amongst youth to be sad as vaping was meant to help people stop smoking.
“It’s a very sad thing to me because most of the students who vape probably would have never tried a cigarette or got into smoking but they’ve got into nicotine this way," he said.
“I also find it really unfortunate that here’s this device that was originally marketed as something that will help you stop smoking.
“We had a steady decline of smokers from the 1990s to now and now this generation of teens, more of them are using nicotine products. It’s like we’ve stepped back in time,” said Christensen.
Juul is the most common vaping device, according to Christensen and he figures that’s due to its sleek, easy-to-blend-in appearance.
“Juul is by far the biggest because it looks like a flash drive,” he said. “Students will even plug their Juul into a laptop and parents or adults won’t even know they're charging their device.”
When asked if the school has specific policies against vaping Christensen said it falls in the same camp as cigarettes.
“We have always treated vaping the same as cigarettes because they’re both nicotine products,” Christensen said. “So in our case it would be an automatic suspension if you’re caught vaping.”
Christensen said that people have been caught and faced consequences but is concerned over the number of students who they don’t catch.
Back in December Christensen said he sent out information to parents about the rising trend to help them be more vigilant of their kids potentially having this habit.
While Christensen has made efforts within the school to stop this problem he doesn’t see it as solely a school issue.
“It’s a societal issue. Do we want a generation of teens addicted to nicotine and line the pockets of these big corporations?”
Christensen also realizes that this isn’t an issue that can be solved by adults telling teens that it’s bad.
“You’re competing against thousands of YouTube videos that are saying ‘Isn’t this cool? It’s not bad and adults don’t know anything.'
“You have to be kind of careful in how you approach it. I really believe it has to be a home instruction.
“Parents need to really be aware how prevalent it is and that their child may have a vape,” he said.
