The National Youth Tobacco Survey is out, and there's good news. Over the past year, high school use of tobacco and e-cigarettes dropped. But there was a significant increase in middle school use of tobacco products.
To help explain the latest numbers, Rich Marianos joined All Things Considered host Rebecca Kruth. Marianos retired as the assistant director at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He is now a senior law enforcement consultant who also teaches at Georgetown University.
"Some of the key takeaways that are important is cigarette smoking is down to its lowest levels than it's ever been before," Marianos said. But he found the steep rise of vape usage among middle schoolers alarming.
"Disposable vape devices are being manufactured by Chinese organized crime, not the industry in the United States," said Marianos. He said the devices are dangerous because they are smuggled into the country and sold to kids. He said the criminal vape industry rakes in hundreds of billions of dollars a year in the United States.
Marianos wants legislators to hone in on what the survey shows is the biggest problem: disposable vape devices.
Bills aimed at updating the Youth Tobacco Act were introduced in Lansing this past legislative session that address vapes. As part of a larger Senate package, SB 649 would ban all flavored nicotine products. Among other things, bipartisan House bill HB 5198 would ban flavors that appeal to children and vapes that are disguised as other things like pens, highlighters, and thumb drives. These bills did not make it out of committee before the session ended.
Marianos said other states have done very well in addressing vape use among minors.
"They're tackling the most important part of this issue, which is the vape devices. They're doing enforcement on the vape shops. They're doing awareness with the community, with the PTA, with the schools, the school resource officers, the medical community in a holistic approach," explained Marianos.
If the bills become law in Michigan, the next step is enforcement. Because the vapes won't magically disappear.
Marianos had some insights about what's in store.
"Some of the hurdles with law enforcement is cops don't have enough time, nor do they have the money or the resources. If police, health department officials, code enforcement officers are going to engage in this, they have to be funded correctly. And they have to work with the schools to identify where these locations are, where the problem is, and put some of these shops out of business."
Marianos gave some solutions for funding this effort. He said shops and sellers involved in the illegal sale of vapes may have tens of thousands of dollars of product on hand. "You seize that and hit them with a large fine, and then use that fine money towards education, training and enforcement. You can begin to disrupt the marketplace, make it more difficult with the kids to get it, teach them through the schools." He said this approach is very similar to the one used to deal with narcotics.
Marianos recommends parents, caregivers, and school officials be on the lookout for the devices. Some are disguised as thumb drives, highlighters, wireless headphone cases, and other things.
"Parents have to really become educated in this arena and understand: this is an epidemic. And they need to have conversations with their children."
Some disposable vape devices contain 7,000 puffs, and kids can go through that in three to four days, Marianos warned. "And that is an extreme amount of nicotine that they're taking in."
He urged parents to understand the issue and not be afraid to engage with law enforcement, so they can get the products off the shelves. Marianos said he thinks it will take schools, parents, and enforcement agencies pushing lawmakers to understand the seriousness of the issue. He added that lawmakers need to make sure enforcement agencies are funded.
For anyone who comes across these devices, Marianos has some advice.
"If you find this stuff, identify where your kid's got it and share that information with law enforcement, with the schools and anyone in the area that is handling this issue, whether it's the health department... So they can identify who they need to put out of business as quick as possible."
Marianos wants parents to feel empowered to tackle this issue.
"Because it's going from the criminal to your home. Crime hits everyone. Everybody ought to hit back."
Editor's note: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the interview near the top of this page.
