Tackling teen e-cigarette use is a daunting challenge for school administrators across the country these days. Catching students using the fairly inconspicuous e-cigarette devices is challenge enough, but knowing exactly what is in the devices—a nicotine or marijuana-based substance—has added just another wrinkle. However, Madison school officials have recently found a new tool to help identify the exact substance in a confiscated e-cigarette.

E-cigarettes came on to the market several years ago and were originally marketed as smoking cessation devices for individuals who smoke traditional cigarettes. The devices, which come in various shapes and sizes, work by heating up and vaporizing a liquid, which a smoker then inhales.

While some e-cigarettes may have originally been marketed to adults, devices like the JUUL come with flavors like bubblegum and mango, making them more attractive to younger people. About a year ago, Daniel Hand High School (DHHS) Principal Anthony Salutari said he saw the use of devices like the JUUL among high school and possibly middle school students explode.

The liquid in the e-cigarette is not water but frequently contains propylene glycol, a primary component of antifreeze. The device works by heating up the liquid to produce an aerosol.

In addition to the potential health dangers caused by the traditional vaping liquid, an e-cigarette can also be used to vape THC, the active component of marijuana and, just as a nicotine-delivering e-cigarette doesn’t smell like a cigarette, using an e-cigarette to deliver THC won’t smell like marijuana. Salutari previously said he doesn’t know if students are using the e-cigarettes to vape marijuana because it is hard to tell.

That has now changed. At a Board of Education (BOE) meeting on Nov. 13, Salutari, along with Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice, told the board about a new testing device, brought to their attention by MADE in Madison, that will allow school administrators to quickly determine exactly what is in an e-cigarette.

The kit uses a cotton swab soaked in a proprietary solution that, when dabbed in the e-cigarette gel or liquid, will show if the item is or is not marijuana.

“Right now the two biggest substances that are used in these items are either nicotine, which you can buy online, or the dab pens, and that is typically marijuana-based,” Salutari said. “Students or people will buy marijuana and you can Google how do you make that into a gel. It looks like a waxy substance, but we were previously unable to tell” if it contained THC.

Salutari said the administration brought the testing kit to the Madison Police Department and the department, as Salutari said “put it to the test on real drugs” and found the kit to be 100 percent accurate.

The goal of being able to test the substance in an e-cigarette isn’t to punish more kids, but be able to try to deter students from this type of activity by demonstrating the very real consequences.

“Our intent is not to increase penalties and consequences for students,” he said. “What we plan to do through our advisory groups is talk to students about this new process we are going to be going through as a deterrent, because if you get caught with a JUUL that is filled with a nicotine-based product, you get a Saturday detention. If you get caught with a dab pen that has marijuana in it, you get a 10-day suspension from school and arrested, so I think that information is a pretty significant deterrent.”

Salutari said testing an e-cigarette would follow all of the established probable cause practices in place and he said that administrators will use the kit to test the substance first, and then call the police if the substance tests positive for marijuana.

“We try not to put a student in a situation with a police officer that is negative unless we know it should be,” he said. “If we call the cops first and it’s nicotine, then part of the goal of [students] having relationships with a police officer that is part of the student resource officer plan, that hurts that piece.”

In recent months, national government agencies have started publishing opinions on e-cigarette use, some going as far as calling it an epidemic among teens. Salutari said the administration is aware of this and reiterated that the ability to test isn’t a means to dole out more punishment.

“Part of the communication, because some students talk regularly about this concern, is about kids who have addiction problems and communicating what those options are,” he said. “Kids can come to us and reach out and say ‘I have a drug problem’ and we do everything we can to point them in the right direction for support without consequences. We want to communicate that as well because there are certainly kids using these items who by now have an addiction to them. The experimentation they may have participated in leads to something a lot worse in some cases.

“So again we aren’t looking for more discipline,” he said, “but we are hoping this will be a deterrent because we can finally tell what is in these products and that is really important.”

Scarice said parents, students, and the community at large have been notified about this testing kit, reiterating that the goal is really to deter students from using any e-cigarette product.

“I think it goes without saying that the job of being a building administrator has become more and more complex,” he said. “No matter what you put together to prevent, we just feel like we are shoveling against this tide of pop culture that keeps winning and its just no matter what we come up with, there is something else that comes out and makes the job that much harder. This is hopefully and effort to stem the tide and I think act as a deterrent. We can at least do that and educate.”