An open letter to businesses that sell vaping products from Corbin Independent Schools

This is an open letter from the Corbin Board of Education to our local businesses requesting that you move vaping products behind the counter and closely monitor the selling of these products to minors.

Use of vaping products by minors in our schools is an ever growing and very alarming problem. We are dealing with an incredible number of vaping issues in our schools and the number of incidents we see is growing daily.

The age of students utilizing vaping products is getting younger as time goes by. When speaking to students anonymously, many tell us that use is rampant and they all know friends who are addicted to this practice.

There are many documented cases of students using these devices to house illegal substances as well.

Obviously, a person over the age of 21 has the legal right to do as they please (within the law), but underage students are now making these decisions for themselves.

While we realize most businesses who sell these products follow the law, we have had a large number of underage students tell us they have purchased these products locally. We have documented cases of students becoming very ill from this type of activity at school and have had to summon emergency medical help on occasion.

When this type of activity happens at home, the adult who ends up caring for the child often has no idea what the root of the problem is and consequently does not know how to help.        

We recently brought a nationally known expert on this subject to our district. He spoke to our students in grades 7-12 along with our staff and a group of parents. Our speaker told us that most of the products sold for use in these devices are unregulated and dosages and levels of harmful chemicals are not precise.

He asked our middle school students to raise their hand if they knew of a student in their age group that vapes regularly and cannot quit…over 50% of the hands went up.        

We respectfully request that for the health and welfare of the families and students in our community, retail businesses please move all vaping products behind the counter of your store (similar to tobacco and medicinal products). We would also ask that you train and instruct your employees to refrain from selling these products to minors. Lastly, we would ask for all commercial landlords to please ask your tenants to join us in this effort.

Again, we know that there are businesses that do not sell to underage customers under any circumstance, and we thank you for that. However based on our recent experiences, we know there are certain locations that are allowing minors to acquire these products. Please help us to avoid a potential tragedy. Thank you for your help.

Corbin Board of Education

Tom Greer, District Safety Officer

David Cox, Corbin School Superintendent