Students that are vaping damage their health, and they need to be taught how to stop using the nicotine-filled smoking devices, the head of Schools Against Vaping told the Covington County Board of Education at its meeting Monday.
Michael Marks, National Executive Director of Schools Against Vaping, said he has been making presentations on the national vaping epidemic across the country, offering school districts an opportunity to join the fight for student body health and participate in a class action lawsuit against student vaping. He said the legal action is designed to bring resources for district cessation programs, designed to restore student health.
“We are engaged on both fronts and welcome help for either or both tracks,” he said. “We are also working to make sure that our mission includes support through legislation. Anti-tobacco programs like the State Board of Health will also play prominently as a part of this overall mission to educate and rectify the problems caused by vaping.”.”
Marks said his organization is targeting teens who are influenced by vaping.
“I am in the process of organizing middle schools, high schools and two-year institutions in our state and across the country in order to combat the e-cigarette marketing that is targeted toward teenagers,” he said. “Recalling my involvement as Mississippi Teacher of the Year with then Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore’s Tobacco Advisory Council in the National Tobacco Settlement of the late ’80s, I have described this current unfair targeting of teenagers as ‘Joe Camel with a different hump.’”
The COVID-19 danger of teen vapers revealed in a recent Stanford University study mandates that this work is now a priority for schools. Teenagers who vape are five times more likely to contract COVID-19. If they have vaped in the last 30 days, the risk factor increases to seven times as likely.