Schools in New Brunswick are doing what they can to combat underage vaping among students, before the school year starts.
There is a growing concern about the number of young people using vape products. This, after one death, and almost 200 cases of severe lung illnesses associated with e-cigarettes now under investigation in the United States.
School administrators at Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton say education about the risks of vaping will start on the first day of school, after the issue came up at the end of the last school year.
"We've had very few people that were say, caught within the school walls, inside smoking, very few," said Leo Hayes High School principal, Brad Sturgeon. "Now, several were actually caught vaping this past school year in the building."
Sturgeon says peer groups and parents are also getting involved in getting the message out.
According to most recent numbers from Stats Canada, 4.6 million Canadians – aged 15 and older – used an e-cigarette in 2017. That's an increase of 700,000 from 2015.
