State Representative Noreen Kokoruda (R-101) and State Senator Christine Cohen (D-12) co-hosted a forum on Nov. 18 in Madison that sought to bring experts to the table in order to answer questions, dispel myths, and offer solutions to residents who are worried about the effects of vaping on the town’s youth.

As headlines continue to blare the fact that these new, popular, and potentially deadly methods of nicotine and marjuana consumption are widespread among teenagers, people are questioning as to what kind of steps schools, doctors, law enforcement, and other community leaders are taking to address the issues with vaping.

Present to speak and answer questions were Scott Cochran and Catherine Barden from Madison Youth & Family Services, Officer Steve Manware of the Madison Police Department, Daniel Hand High School Principal T.J. Salutari and Assistant Principal Brian Bodner, pediatrician Karen Goldberg, and Barbara Walsh from the state Department of Public Health.

The focus was on helping residents, and particularly parents, understand what vaping is, and identify ways to address it with their teenagers.

Vaping is the practice of inhaling an aerosol form of nicotine or another chemical—often THC, the active ingredient in marijuana—using hand-held devices that are widely available. Initially marketed as an aid to quitting smoking, vaping has exploded in popularity over the last three years or so, particularly among the younger population. Though marketed as safer than cigarettes, vaping has been shown to cause serious, sometimes deadly lung diseases.

At the panel, several of these devices were shown off and passed around as the various community leaders shared their experiences as to what could be done, and what was being done to help protect Madison’s youth from the epidemic.

“We really want to look at shifting the culture for kids,” said Cochran. “One important aspect of that is...if we think of this as a cultural thing and a trend, we know that the statistics are not that most kids are [vaping]...We want to be careful when we’re talking around youth about what this problem is, because we might inadvertently enforce this idea that everybody’s doing it.”

In fact, Madison’s incidence of youth vaping has fallen recently, from almost 30 percent two years ago to around 18 percent this year, according to Barden.

Though this kind of data is encouraging, panelists emphasized that much more work needed to be done, that 18 percent was still too many kids exposing themselves to harmful and addictive substances.

Education is the primary way to prevent youth vaping was the consensus of the panel, as each member spoke about ways they approached the issue from their area and their expertise.

“I had patients four years ago who thought it was water vapor,” said Golberg. “And didn’t realize there was nicotine in it. Now, I talk to everybody over the age of nine at every single physical about vaping, and about what it is.”

Cochran said Youth & Family Services will be sponsoring a PSA contest with prizes in order to encourage students to take an active role in learning about and educating their peers as far as vaping is concerned.

Other concerns brought up by panelists and community members included how to catch teens who are hiding their vaping, particularly at the high school. Kokoruda brought up the possibility of having vape detectors installed, which Manware said exist, but are not currently in use at any Madison schools.

Manware estimated that the cost of purchasing and installing these detectors would be around $30,000 per school. Salutari said he wasn’t sure the detectors worked with the school’s network, which would need to be determined before any investment in that kind of technology.

The school also has kits to test whether the substance a particular student is vaping contains something other than nicotine, Salutari said.

Maybe most important, though, people on the panel said it was important to have straightforward conversations with teens who might be vaping.

“It’s important to just be aware of what’s out there, and just have those conversations with your kids,” Barden said. “I know for parents, they all have that red flag where you know something isn’t quite right. And we always tell parents that if you know that something isn’t quite right, something isn’t quite right. Sit down, have those conversations, ask questions.”

Cohen, Kokurda, and others also said they were encouraged that teens they interacted with—including their own children and grandchildren—were relatively knowledgeable about vaping, which shows that more adults are taking the issue seriously and educating themselves.

Cohen, who has hosted three other panels on vaping along the shoreline, said she was particularly encouraged by progress at the local level, even as vaping continues to grow nationally

“I think education is key,” Cohen told The Source. “Having lots of families and parents out here learning about these products and seeing the actual instruments is really helpful. And then families can take that information home and have good, productive conversations.”