Parents in Florida are considering homeschooling their children as fentanyl-laced e-cigarettes appear in schools.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old high school student in Volusia County, Florida, was arrested and charged after he was caught smoking in the bathrooms of Deltona High School.
The vape was confiscated and tested. It turned out to be positive for fentanyl – a powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine but 100 times more potent – and THC – the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that gets people “high”.
Parents at the school called the incident “horrifying” as fentanyl vapers continue to appear in schools. It comes amid a school vape epidemic that is expected to worsen over the course of the new school year.
The e-cigarette used by a 15-year-old Volusia County, Florida high school student was found to contain fentanyl and THC
More than 2.5 million children in the U.S. use e-cigarettes — an increase of half a million from last year and a reversal of downward trends in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 2.55 million Americans in middle or high school admit to using the device in the past 30 days. That’s a jump of 500,000, or 24 percent, from 2021. It’s the first increase since the CDC began collecting annual data in 2019
Kelli Ninche, mother of several children at Deltona High School, told Fox 35 News She has considered taking her son out of class his first year and homeschooling him.
But she said: “That’s probably not the best thing because that’s the world they have to live in. To be honest, it’s terrifying.”
Ms Ninche regularly speaks to her son about the dangers of e-cigarettes and said: “It’s definitely a topic I’m going to discuss with him again tonight because they might think they just take nicotine and then have it something else.” it, like with fentanyl. For me it’s scary.’
She also plans to talk to her Just in case, we also inform children in the second and fourth grades of school about e-cigarettes.
“These days, kids get their hands on these things.
“It’s disappointing because you wonder what the cause is,” she said.
A few months ago, a 17-year-old student at a school in DeLand, Florida, less than 20 miles from Volusia County, died after a fentanyl overdose, although not related to e-cigarette smoke.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the 15-year-old thought he was buying cocaine, but it also contained fentanyl.
Just two milligrams of fentanyl – the equivalent of 10 to 15 grains of table salt – can be fatal.
The teenager who investigators say sold drugs to the boy was charged with manslaughter earlier this month.
The same suspect is also accused of selling a contaminated vape to a DeLand school student, which caused her to pass out in the school’s bathroom in July.
The Volusia County sheriff has asked that schools begin introducing Narcan — a drug that quickly reverses an opioid overdose — on campus.
The Volusia County School District said it is installing e-cigarette detectors in schools to discourage students from bringing e-cigarettes and using them on school grounds.
There is also an anonymous phone number that students can use to report e-cigarette activity, it said.
By the end of 2022, approximately 2.5 million middle and high school students were addicted to e-cigarettes, an increase of 500,000 or 24 percent from 2021. It is the first increase since 2019.
The vast majority of children, 85 percent, use flavored e-cigarettes, which federal regulators have cracked down on in recent years amid concerns that manufacturers are specifically marketing the products to children.
As with cigarettes, an American must be at least 21 years old to purchase a vape, but many physical retail stores fail to check customers’ ID, allowing children to access the devices. Many people also receive the device from a friend or family member.
Still, thanks to lenient enforcement at retail stores, teens often have the opportunity to obtain flavored e-cigarettes, mostly disposable devices filled with high concentrations of highly addictive nicotine.
When it comes to e-cigarettes containing THC, research has shown that vaping marijuana is actually more harmful to your health than using traditional cigarettes or e-cigarettes.