YOUNGSTOWN, N.Y. — Vaping is becoming more of a problem for young people. More than three-million middle and high school students regularly vape with e-cigarettes.
Now, local school districts are trying to take a proactive approach to getting pens and Juuls out of the hands of kids.
"I've seen students, young people in the community, they wear them as a chain around their neck," says Paul Casseri, Superintendent of the Lewiston-Porter Central School District.
Lewiston-Porter Middle and High School have new vaping and e-cigarette policies. Students caught with the devices or caught using them at school face an automatic three day out of school suspension. Caught more than once, you could end up with a long-term suspension.
"It's even pushed down into our intermediate school. Fourth and fifth grade students, as well. So, it's a very, very big problem," says Casseri.
"Just this week, New York State issued a report showing a near doubling in the use rate of e-cigarettes among high schoolers," says Dr. Andrew Hyland.
Dr. Hyland, from Roswell Park, runs the state's Smokers Quit Line.
"Kids that start vaping are more likely to progress to be cigarette smokers later on, and we know without question that cigarette smoking is incredibly harmful," says Dr. Hyland.
Dr. Hyland says young people's brains are more susceptible to nicotine and just a small amount changes their brain chemistry so they're more likely to get addicted.
Tricia Broughton and her son, Austin, thought it was important to be at Lew-Port's information night about vaping Thursday.
"A lot of kids think that because it's not smoking, that it's not harming them and that's why I tried to tell him that it's very similar to smoking regular cigarettes," says Broughton.
Austin Gibbs has vaped before and says he tried it for the nicotine.
"It just feels good, you know, like it's like a tingling sensation in the brain. Doesn't really make you forget about anything, but it helps you cope with some stuff," says Gibbs, a high school sophomore.
Gibbs says he stopped vaping because he knew it was bad for him and didn't want to get in trouble. Since the zero-tolerance policy went into effect in December, Casseri says the number of students caught using e-cigarettes has decreased.