Florida Parents Consider Pulling Children from School Amidst Fentanyl-Laced Vape Concerns
As fentanyl-laced vape pens start to show up in classrooms, parents in Florida are thinking about homeschooling their kids.
A 15-year-old kid at Deltona High in Volusia County, Florida was charged and placed under custody earlier this month after it was discovered that he was vaping in the school’s restrooms.
The vaporizer was seized and examined. It tested positive for THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that gives users a “high,” and fentanyl, a strong synthetic painkiller 100 times more potent than morphine.
Given the increasing prevalence of fentanyl vape pens in classrooms, parents at the school called the incident “terrifying.” It occurs in the midst of a school vape pandemic that is predicted to worsen as the academic year goes on.
The mother of several students at Deltona High School revealed to Fox 35 News that she has been considering homeschooling her freshman son instead of dropping him off at school.
It’s definitely a topic I’m going to touch with him again tonight, because they might believe they’re just smoking nicotine and then they have something else in it, like with fentanyl, as another mother who frequently talks to her son about the risks associated with vaping stated. It’s scary to me.
In case something happens, she also intends to discuss vaping with her kids, who are in the second and fourth grades at the school.
These days, kids are gaining access to these things.
It’s disheartening as you wonder what’s behind it, she remarked.
Not related to vaping, but a few months ago, a 17-year-old kid at a school in DeLand, Florida, less than 20 miles from Volusia County, passed away from a fentanyl overdose.
The 15-year-old youngster believed he was purchasing cocaine, but the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said that package also contained fentanyl.
Ten to fifteen table salt grains, or just two milligrammes of fentanyl, can be lethal.
Additionally, the same suspect is charged with selling a female student at the DeLand school a tainted vape pen that caused her to pass out in the school’s lavatory in July.
The Volusia County Sheriff has asked that Narcan, a medication that quickly reverses an opioid overdose, be made available in schools.
In an attempt to deter children from bringing in vapes and using them on school property, the Volusia County School District announced that it is placing vape detectors in classrooms.
Additionally, it stated that kids can report vaping activity by calling an anonymous phone number.
As of late 2022, around 2.5 million middle and high school students—a 24 percent increase from 2021—were addicted to e-cigarettes. Since 2019, this is the first rise.
Eighty-five percent of children use flavoured e-cigarettes, which have been the target of federal regulators’ crackdown in recent years due to worries that makers are intentionally promoting the items to children.
Similar to cigarettes, vaping requires a legal age of 21 in the United States, but many physical retail stores fail to verify clients’ identities, giving minors access to the devices. A lot of people also receive the gadget from friends or relatives.
Nevertheless, due to lax policing at retail stores, teenagers are frequently able to obtain flavoured vapes, which are typically disposal devices loaded with high amounts of very addictive nicotine.
As for vapes containing THC, research has found vaping marijuana is actually worse for your health than using traditional cigarettes or e-cigarettes.
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