Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody focused on teen vaping this week, crossing the state to crack down on it even as she noted that one out of four high school students in the Sunshine State vape.
Last month, Moody kicked off a fact-gathering tour of the state in Northeast Florida and she continued it this week with events in Oviedo and Sarasota.
“I want to get to the bottom of this issue,” Moody said on Thursday. “These products cannot legally be bought by students under 18; however, these underage students are the largest population of users. At our first stop on our statewide fact-gathering mission, longtime career educators said that teen vaping is the greatest challenge they have ever faced. Today I heard similar testimonies from school officials and law enforcement in Oviedo and Sarasota.”
The attorney general’s office offered some insights on the meetings Moody had on Thursday and stressed the high stakes.
‘Today’s discussions focused on several key factors surrounding youth vaping, including how students are learning about e-cigarettes and how minors are getting a hold of these products. One in four Florida high school students are vaping, while only four percent of adults in Florida are vaping, as per a CDC report. The CDC also points out that juvenile nicotine exposure can harm brain development in ways that may affect the health and mental health of youth,” Moody’s office noted. “According to a Florida Department of Health study, more than 28 percent of students in Sarasota County and Seminole County use e-cigarettes. Additionally, Sarasota and Seminole counties rank fifth and 15th highest in the state for percent of student e-cigarette users who usually choose flavored electronic vapor.”
Moody met with law enforcement officials, teachers and administrators at the events on Thursday to discuss vaping.
