Teen vaping in Tampa schools has reached unimaginable levels. Now Hillsborough County commissioners want to take action to put an end to the problem once and for all.
During their weekly meetings this week the commissioners unanimously voted to study the number of Hillsborough County businesses within 500 feet of schools that sell vaping products. This is to find out what role these businesses play in the growing problem of teen vaping within the country. Already parents and other stakeholders in the county are up in arms following the growing cases of teenage vaping in the county.
Florida state laws prohibit vaping or smoking by those under 21 years within 1,000 feet of any school. However, the location of shops that sell vaping products within this distance from a school may be encouraging many to vape. The commissioners want to make it hard for people within school neighbourhoods to access vaping products. This is because it’s believed that this will discourage vaping and especially among teenagers who even vape on school grounds.
Patti Rendon, District 4’s, newly elected board member is pushing for the study to help solve the problem which is more pronounced in his district. He says that teen vaping has reached crisis levels in his community and wants it solved immediately.
Commissioner Michael Owen is the one who brought the vaping problem to the board. He says he has seen an increase in teen vaping in Tampa and he wants to help many parents who feel the burden of the problem solve it. He believes that the county board can take the right action to make sure that teenagers in the county are protected from the harmful impacts of vaping.
On his part commission, Pat Kemp says he is surprised that the federal government is yet to pass compressive legislation that bans the sale of vaping products to teenagers. He believes that a federal law will serve as a deterrent to many out-of-state suppliers of vaping products who take advantage of the ununiform state laws to get these products into the hands of teens. He further said that it’s time to protect Tampa teenagers from the scourge of vaping because the long-term impact of vaping is yet to be known and letting teens vape as they want to could result in many health problems for them latter on.
Commissioner Kemp promised that the Hillsborough County commissioners will do what is within their power and jurisdiction to put an end to teen vaping in the county. He wants the state to pass a law banning vaping among teens and young adults to protect them from the potentially harmful impacts of these products.
Teen vaping is not just a problem in Tampa Florida. The CDC says that one in every seven American high schoolers vapes. This is a very dangerous statistic because many recent studies have shown that vaping could trigger many of the complex healthy complications associated with cigarette smoking.
The American Heart Association believes that thousands of school going kids vape every day. Regular vaping is proving to be more dangerous because many vaping products on the market contain higher nicotine than traditional cigarettes and this can be more harmful to teens.
The good news is that already the war on teen vaping is gaining some traction in the country. On Wednesday, Juul, the giant e-cigarette maker settled for over 8,000 lawsuits it was facing. Targeting teenagers and young adults in its marketing was the main basis of the lawsuits. This win marks the beginning for many parents and school districts who wants to see vaping among teenagers put to an end in the country.
