Vapes, some filled with THC carts, cause students to fall ill in Coast school district
Vaping is becoming a dangerous issue in the Hancock County School district, and the superintendent issued a video warning students about consequences of partaking in the illegal activity and pleading with parents for help.
Students as young as elementary age up to teens at Hancock High are getting in trouble for vaping on campuses and on buses, school district Superintendent Theresa Merwin said in a video released on YouTube and the district website.
“Students who are under 21, and 99.9% of our student population is under 21, are participating in an illegal activity,” Merwin said in the video.
Merwin outlined the different substances that students have been vaping which includes flavored nicotine known as e-juice, cannabis-based substances like CBD and THC and synthetic chemicals called spice.
The liquids are loaded into an e-cigarette device, also known as a vape cartridge, and are behind smoked and inhaled.
“What is happening in our schools is vaping with all of these products,” Merwin said in the video. “It is producing physical, seizure-type conditions which are causing students to become very sick. We are experiencing episodes in the classrooms, bathrooms and buses.”
Merwin pleads with parents in the video to help schools fight the problem.
“We cannot do this alone,” she said. “You are the first line of defense. You control your home.”
Students who are caught vaping will face expulsion, Merwin said, adding that Hancock County Sheriff’s Department narcotics deputies will be notified if the vapes are found to contain illegal substances.
“My fear is not that your children will be expelled, but they may not recover from their experience,” Merwin said.
In a statement emailed to the Sun Herald, Merwin said the school district is working closely with the Hancock County deputies “on prevention and solutions” to the vaping issue.
Merwin said the district has had to call medical services to treat students “on a few occasions.”