Nicotine Testing: Nebraska School District is Fighting Teen Vaping

"Enough is enough," says a Nebraska school district when it comes to teen e-cigarette use.

The Rise of Teen Vaping

With the recent studies on the rise of vape and e-cig use among teenagers being published, Fairbury Public Schools in Nebraska will be launching a new nicotine testing policy. Fairbury will be testing all students enrolled in extracurricular activities for nicotine use.

This policy is no coincidence - the sharp rise in the use of e-cigarettes has been alarming parents, teachers, and school administrators for years/months. This Nebraskan nicotine testing policy aims to prevent teen vaping in its rural community. With support from the school board in the form of adding nicotine to the list of banned substances and support from parents and students agreeing to take the tests, the policy seems like this could be an effective way to combat the increase of e cigarette use in their schools.

According to Superintendent Stephen Grizzle, 20-25 students will be randomly tested during the school year. Participating students will be given an ID number. Each month about 10% of those numbers are chosen at random. Then samples are collected and sent for analysis.

But what about the punishment for testing positive?

No clear penalty was stated in the recent reports. We can only hope that a well thought out plan on educating students on the detriments of smoking can be enacted, especially when it comes to tobacco-related products.

Will we see a trend of other schools participating in this nicotine testing to combat teenage vaping? Other school districts in Nebraska already require students involved in athletic programs, including marching band, to take random drug tests. Fairbury, however, is one the first to enact a substance test for nicotine.

Reference

-https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/18/school-district-is-fed-up-with-epidemic-vaping-now-it-will-randomly-test-students-nicotine/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.40f82ee4aea3

-https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/youth-and-tobacco/2018-nyts-data-startling-rise-youth-e-cigarette-use