It's hard to stop teens from vaping in school Sep 12, 2019 at 4:14 pm

E-cigarettes — now linked to cases of lung disease nationwide — are becoming more popular for youth.

One in three high school seniors in Washington state has vaped. And a King County teenager spent several days in the hospital this summer with a lung disease that's been associated with vaping. Health officials are investigating more about the cause. Nationally, teen vaping went up 78% between 2017 and 2018; a quarter of those users vape most days of the month. That's according to data from Washington's Healthy Youth Survey, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Washington's Department of Health is leading anti-vaping campaigns, warning it could lead to addiction problems or other health issues for young people. School districts run health campaigns, too, but stopping kids from vaping is another story.

"Our biggest hope is that we can keep kids engaged and attending [school]," says Mandy Paradise, who supervises the Prevention Intervention Services Program for the state schools office in Olympia. "It's really difficult knowing what the discipline should look like so that kids come back to school," she said, "and kids don't feel alienated because they might be engaged in substance use."