Madison City Schools to host Clearing the Smoke: Facts about E-cigs – A Workshop for Parents April 30

MADISON – An explosive trend among middle school and high school students has Madison City Schools officials taking action. Nationally, and in Madison, the number of teens who have started using e-cigarettes or vaping devices has dramatically increased in one year.

“It is an issue we want to help parents know more about,” said Dr. David West, who serves as safety, security and emergency management coordinator for Madison City Schools. “We have seen an increase of vaping instances in the area schools. It is something we are aggressively fighting.”

Madison City Schools is teaming up with the Partnership for a Drug-Free Community to bring awareness to this growing problem. April 30 MCS will host Clearing the Smoke: Facts about E-cigs – A Workshop for Parents from 6-7 p.m. at Madison City Hall, 100 Hughes Road, Madison.

“There’s a lot of misinformation and just plain ignorance surrounding e-cigarettes,” said Ann Marie Martin with the Partnership for a Drug-Free Community. “Before Juuls and other high-tech-looking e-cig brands hit the news, many teachers and parents didn’t even recognize them as electronic nicotine delivery devices. Of course, most students do recognize them – whether they are using them or not.”

Martin said what teens often don’t know about e-cigs is the amount of nicotine in various e-juices, other toxic chemicals in the mix and the potential health consequences of vaping.

“Juuls, for instance, always contain nicotine – a lot of nicotine,” Martin said. “One Juul pod sold in the U.S. contains at least as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.”

Martin said the various e-juice flavors – everything from crème brulee to popcorn to chocolate to cotton candy – attract teens, and the nicotine hooks them. Eighty-eight percent of adult smokers first tried cigarettes before age 18, when the developing teenage brain is more susceptible to nicotine addiction.

“Public health officials and the tobacco industry are both well aware of that 88-percent statistic,” Martin said. “That’s why it’s so important to educate our children before they become addicted consumers.”

The free workshop April 30 will include a presentation by the Partnership for a Drug-Free Community, healthcare experts, a testimonial and a question-and-answer session. It is open to the public.