Week Four (How CDS should tackle the vaping epidemic):

With vaping becoming a nationwide epidemic and vaping companies targeting teenagers, students are now more prone to vaping than they ever have been.

Hillsborough County Commissioners unanimously voted to research the number of businesses operating in the area that sell vaping devices within 500 feet of elementary, middle and high schools in December of 2023. However, they have done nothing to mandate lessons or anti-smoking curriculums in schools.

Hillsborough County School students are not taught the dangers of nicotine products in a classroom environment, and many students who are caught vaping at school are not taught why it is negative, they’re instead punished.

CDS should tackle the vaping epidemic by preventing it from happening in the first place, and educating students on the dangers of vaping. Efforts such as locking the bathroom doors between classes or penalizing the students who are caught vaping is a common practice that public schools employ, but none are as effective as keeping those students from vaping to begin with.

Presenting videos, pictures, and stories of students who did vape and are now suffering the harsh effects will be a more direct approach to tackling the problem. While the images can be scary and frightening to some, they emphasize the main point of vaping: it’s a harmful trend with irreversible effects that needs to stop.