- Jefferson County leaders highlight the rising vaping rates among high school and middle school students.
- A resource officer emphasizes the challenges of controlling youth vaping.
- Watch the video to learn why the RSO is suggesting tougher penalties.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Jefferson County leaders are tackling teen tobacco troubles head-on.
“Students are attracted to them just because of the fun colors, the fun flavors that they’re advertising.”
I’m Lentheus Chaney, your Monticello neighborhood reporter, showing you how the county health department and sheriff’s office are teaming up to protect kids and prevent youth vaping.
The Florida Youth Tobacco Survey shows vaping is still a big issue. Ten-point-four percent of high school students statewide use e-cigarettes. In Jefferson County, every middle school students who vapes nicotine also reports vaping marijuana.
“Vaping is a major issue, and we’re not only dealing with it here; it’s all over our network with resource officers that I meet at the conferences, and we all have the same stories to share,” Sgt. Maurice Arnold said.
Sgt. Maurice Arnold, a Jefferson K-12 school resource officer with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, says youth vaping is tough to control because the devices are so easy to get. He gives them real-life examples of what can happen to them physically if they vape. He also stresses that when kids get caught, there are consequences.
“The first offense from the school policy is [In School Suspension], so if kids continue to vape and we catch them, it goes from ISS to out-of-school suspension. And also, in the process of doing that, say, for instance, they’re given five days of out-of-school suspension, we have a tobacco course that I got from SWAT, and that’ll knock off one day of out-of-school suspension,” Sgt. Arnold said.
In the heart of Jefferson County, there’s a determined movement to create healthier, tobacco-free communities. The Jefferson County Health Department is a big part of that movement, where tobacco prevention specialist Michael Angeles works behind the scenes, supporting students and schools, and helping the community shape tobacco-free environments.
“Our school board has adopted all policies of no smoking allowed on campuses. We only have one school here—it’s Jefferson County K-12 School. We also have tobacco-free public spaces. We don’t have an adoption of our park being tobacco-free, but we have worked with our parks to get that signage up so that way, our park, there’s no tobacco allowed there,” Angeles said.
Programs like SWAT, or Students Working Against Tobacco, are giving young people the tools to make a difference. SWAT lets students educate their friends and help stop tobacco use in their neighborhoods.
“Students Working Against Tobacco is really important for a community like this, and just in general, because a peer wants to hear from another peer,” Angeles said.
Out of more than 200 students, about 10 to 15 have been caught with vapes—and many are repeat offenders. Sgt. Arnold says he believes if the penalties were tougher, vaping wouldn’t be as big of a problem.
In Monticello, Lentheus Chaney, ABC27.
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