By Hal Scheurich
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DAPHNE, Alabama (WALA) — Daphne Police put out a warning to parents and students this week about a rise in the number of electronic vapes and e-cigarettes turning up in the schools. They’re showing up on school campuses more often than ever before. That’s reason enough for concern but School Resource Officers (SRO) are now regularly finding them with more than just nicotine in them.
“They’ve made four arrests at the High School for kids that had vapes with THC in them,” said Capt. Brian Gulsby with Daphne Police.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary psychoactive constituent found in marijuana which causes an altered mental state. It’s a growing problem at school across the county. SROs in Daphne now carry field test kits that can detect the presence of THC. Combatting the use of vapes is a challenge but one they’re taking on by targeting younger students.
“This year, I’ve set up a program that I’m teaching to my eighth grade, so I’ll go in the class because I think the big thing that we need to be doing is teaching our kids that those things are actually harmful because the research shows, if they know that things are harmful, they’ll stop,” explained Daphne Middle School SRO, Officer Jaime Huffman.
Between last school year and the first couple months of this year, Daphne’s SROs have confiscated more than 50 e-cigarettes and vape units from Daphne Middle and High School. Just this year, 15 have been picked up at Daphne High and eight from the middle school.
Police want parents to understand the consequences the use of vapes can have on their children as well as the difficulty recognizing their use.
“They’re small. They’re easy to hide. A lot of times adults really don’t know what these devices are,” Gulsby said. “There are some that are disguised to look like USB drives and the kids are tricky with it. They’ll blow the water vapor into their backpacks or down their sweatshirt collars and so, that makes it difficult.”
While police say they’d like to be out in front of the problem, right now, they’re still playing catch-up. Daphne PD has posted some of the risks of e-cigarette use and how parents can learn more on their Facebook page.
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