Variable-rate balloons among young people in Marin County

A new report shows that the number of seventh, ninth and eleventh-row students who breathe drugs such as nicotine in the form of steam rather than smoke, usually using electronic cigarettes, more than doubled at Marin during last two years. According to data published in the 2017-2018 California Child Health Survey, the use of vaping devices has increased for all age groups, from seventh to eleventh grade. The percentage of students who used a device increased from 25% to 34% for Grade 9 students and from 39% to 47% for Grade 11 students. "Young people all over the county are [vaping] and do not think it's as dangerous as tobacco products, "said Bob Curry, director of Marin County's Tobacco Control Program. "The most popular electronic cigarette here is Juul, and a pod, which they would use in two or three days, is equivalent to the nicotine in a pack of cigarettes. After you have smoked these pods for a short period of time, you will be dependent on nicotine. He added that teens "just do not know and [don’t] understand that it's full of nicotine. They think it's just a trend and there's no harm in that. Currently, federal law prohibits the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, but these devices can be purchased at most convenience stores and service stations. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration said that if the five major manufacturers of these products failed to stop sales to minors, they would consider taking their products off the market. Marin Public Schools has no-steam policies and develops anti-vaping education programs; Mike Grant, Director of Facilities at the Office of Education, said that prevention efforts vary by school. One of the biggest prevention efforts has been to create peer educators; Last year, the students of Sir Francis Drake High issued a message of public interest against vaping and smoking in general. This year, Marin's Peer Summit, an event organized largely by the County's Youth Commission for the seventh and eighth years, identified vaping as one of its main themes to be addressed. "We believe that the data coming out right now is an opportunity to really help put more emphasis on this topic," Grant said. "It's about data, but we think it will help us get the message out and focus on [vaping] as a community ". Following in the footsteps of Sausalito, Fairfax and Novato, the Marin County Supervisory Council will look into creating an order this fall to ban the sale of vaping and flavored tobacco products. "Vaping is not something that can be taken lightly," said Mr. Curry.