It’s Not a Flash Drive: Vaping News Teachers and Parents Can Use
I began my teaching career in 1991. When I think about my contemporary classroom experience and consider my professional world decades ago, I find myself often thinking, “Well, I didn’t see that coming.”
Case in point: Vaping.
Twenty-eight years ago, I never would have imagined that my classroom responsibilities would include actively watching for students to try to inhale concentrated nictotine vapor (laced with other chemicals) using a device at best the size of my index finger– and which easily resembles a flash drive.
This is Juul, the latest in electronic cigarettes. The device operates on a rechargeable battery; it heats up a pod of “juice” that turns into a vapor, ready for inhaling.
“Juul Starter Kit”/ juul.com
Juul devices can recharge using a computer USB, and since the Juul already resembles a flash drive, it takes a careful eye to discern when a student who is working at a school computer station might also be using that opportunity to charge a Juul.
Vaping in class is as easy as bending over one’s bookbag to ostensibly search for a pencil, or seeming to wipe one’s face with one’s sleeve, or appearing to wipe one’s nose with a tissue.
Chemical inhaled, chemical exhaled. Snap of a finger. Blink of an eye.
What a win for the tobacco industry! Since there is no smoke, only a vapor, imagine how much more teens will use this device, stealthily, in plain sight, in a CONTINUE READING: It’s Not a Flash Drive: Vaping News Teachers and Parents Can Use | deutsch29