Administrators in some school districts in Texas are going completely overboard to stop students from vaping.
How far is it going?
Texas Tribune cites cases where students have their clothing searched, “drug”-sniffing dogs roam campus and “vape-detecting” technology is employed to alert school officials about possible vaping.
Those caught face sever discipline and even jail time.
From the Texas Tribune piece:
Before entering the halls of Channing School high atop the Texas Panhandlelast year, students were required to roll up their shirt sleeves to show they weren’t sneaking in e-cigarettes.
In North Texas’ Coppell Independent School District, “vape-detecting technology” — sensors akin to smoke alarms — are tucked in secret locations on campuses. They automatically ping administrators when suspicious chemicals wafting in the air indicate students might be vaping.
In other Texas school districts, students must sign out to use the bathroom during class, and drug-sniffing dogs are making the rounds...
Vaping nicotine alone is prohibited for students under age 21, and an increasing number are being suspended or removed from regular classes and sent to alternative schools designed for students with disciplinary problems.
A smaller—but rapidly growing—number of students are being expelled when suspected of vaping THC, the mind-altering ingredient in marijuana and a felony-level controlled substance under state law. THC oils or waxes used in vape pens are almost always more potent than the marijuana plant. Police are called and students arrested in cases where officials simply suspect a vape pen contains illegal drugs.
As vaping continues to outpace traditional smoking among the nation's youth, students who a few years ago may have been charged with at most a misdemeanor for smoking a joint are now facing felony charges for having a vape pen in their backpacks.
If a students is caught vaping, many times they immediately expelled and shipped off to alternative schools for serious wrongdoers.
The Tribune article cites the case of a 17-year-old students who brought a vape pen into school that he had purchased from another student.
Another student ratted him out and police tested the vape pen and found that it contained THC.That student was arrested and booked into jail.He could now face felony charges.
Reason.com's Robby Soave makes an excellent point about the overcriminalization of vaping:
What's worse for the average teenager: vaping, or going to prison? There should be no doubt that the solution to this supposed problem—pulling kids out of good schools to send them to bad schools, treating them like inmates, and charging them with felonies—is significantly more harmful.