Teen vaping prevention in Snohomish County

SNOHOMISH COUNTY – The Snohomish Health District is giving a series of presentations on the truth about vaping.

Health Educator Mary O’Leary uses various vaping products and devices as props to show just how easy they are to hide.

“These devices are getting more and more discreet,” she says. “They’re getting smaller, they’re getting easier to hide, so kids have more access to that.”

O’Leary showed us a sweater that has a built in plug that users can connect to their vape device. The sweater’s hood drawstrings are used to then inhale the vape.

Another sneaky vape device is also a watch.

“We don’t want our kids graduating from high school with an addiction,” said O’Leary.

The Snohomish Health District reports 30 percent of high school seniors are vaping, a big jump from reports from previous years. It’s also a trend that is parallel nationwide.

“We do have a school resource officer who is aware of teen and student activity,” said Mukilteo Police Officer Myron Travis. “Not saying that that’s really going on, but we’re aware that teens do vape.”

State Health officials have banned vapor products containing vitamin E acetate and that kicks in on Wednesday. This is on top of the state flavored vape ban that went into effect last month.

The Health District is holding its next vaping presentation at the Everett Community Resource Center on Thursday between 6-8 p.m.