Will Schools Ban Vaping? “Yes,” Says Athletic Director

by Martin · June 17, 2019

Vaping is a $22.6bn dollar [1] industry. Its vast market covers the entire world. However, countries like Brazil and Chile do not allow the sale of vape products. Other countries like Singapore and Cambodia have banned vaping altogether. They take a more severe approach with considerable fines and even jail time for possession.

Luckily, in the United States, it is not a punishable offense, but there is a growing number of concerned groups. Schools are now regulating e-cigarette use on campus and starting to implement bans.

In the case of Farmingham High School, athletic director Paul Spear discovered a mounting number of his students vaping. His approach to this was to provide suspensions from participating in competitions and classes. Spear and other school officials believe that vaping threatens their health and damps their ability to compete.

This approach is problematic because it doesn’t address the problem face to face. Assumptions are made without real evidence to support them. Massachusetts Senator John Keenan implies that vaping companies market purposely towards young people. [2] His argument is, “why would they design a product that takes 8,000 flavors?”

These are the pernicious, ill-informed assumptions that gloop around in the vaping community. [3] It gives fuel to the naysayers and the ones that want to ban this hobby. Young people don’t have a monopoly on flavors. Young athletes don’t need to receive suspensions from school and athletics because of “possible health risks.”

The landscape is different for vaping than it is for cigarettes and big tobacco. The vaping industry has taken a big step in following FDA rules and regulations. Each product sold is required to indicate the product’s nicotine contents. Popular vaping websites like ProVape.com offer age-verification restrictions for browsing and purchasing.

In conclusion, not everything is sunshine and rainbows when it comes to vaping. There are some concerns that should be addressed but the science is not on their side. The ignorance of the misinformed doesn’t justify suspending students and destroying their athletic future. It helps to know what you vape [4] and there are some incredible resources available that give legs to your assumptions.

The debate rages on.

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