FDA targets teens in new anti-vaping campaign
On 'The Daily Briefing,' FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the FDA sees clear signs that youth e-cigarette use has reached an epidemic proportion. Gottlieb also addresses how the FDA is fighting opioid addiction.
Six high school students in New Mexico were hospitalized Thursday as a precautionary measure after a vaping scare, local media is reporting.
On Jan. 23, six teens at Goddard High School in Roswell were sent for medical attention after the group became sick after “vaping marijuana wax,” KRQE reports.
A street view image of Goddard High School in Roswell, New Mexico. (Google Maps)
According to the outlet, both police and school officials have remained relatively mum regarding further details.
School superintendent Dr. Ann Lynn McIlroy confirmed to KRQE, however, that the students are now doing fine and that both police and the school are investigating the matter.
"Their first and primary response was to make sure that kids were taken care of and that they were given the adequate care and afterward, started investigating what had actually occurred,” Dr. McIlroy said.
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Goddard students, meanwhile, reported that more serious rumors were swirling around the vaping scare.
"What I heard was it was laced with heroin, and then some kid [had] an allergic reaction [and] the ambulance came,” Angel Gonzalez, a student, told the outlet. "I mean on the doors it says like, no tobacco products allowed, but I mean, you can't really search every students' pockets so you really don't know what they have,’ said Gonzalez.
"I think they were all just kind of hitting on it. One of them said they couldn't breathe and stuff like that, so they just decided to call the ambulance,” Brian Isarraraz said.
As of Friday afternoon, no charges had been filed, as per KRQE.
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Twice as many high school students used nicotine-based electronic cigarettes in 2018 compared with the year prior, according to a survey from the University of Michigan exploring teen smoking, drinking and drug use.
In the study’s 44-year history, 2018 marked the largest single-year increase, surpassing even the surge in marijuana smoking during the mid-1970s.
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The federally funded survey has prompted regulators to press for measures making it harder for kids to purchase the vaping devices.
Use of other drugs, like cigarettes, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, heroin and opioid pills, all declined.
The nicotine present in e-cigarettes is harmful to developing brains and can make kids more likely to take up cigarette smoking later in life or even try other drugs, researchers believe.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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