State House committee wants student input from around the state to help

A measure that would ban the sales of flavored nicotine products and prohibit the marketing of vaping products to people under 21 advanced during the state House Committee on Health, Human Services & Homelessness hearing Thursday.

All committee members voted in favor of approving the measure with amendments, including utilizing student input on how to end the vaping epidemic in Hawaii schools and establishing a “take-back” program to collect and destroy confiscated vaping paraphernalia on school campuses.

In his written testimony in support of House Bill 1570, HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. said “With packaging that looks like it came off the shelf of a candy store and flavors such as Strawberry Watermelon Bubblegum, Unicorn Milk, and Sour Patch Kids, it’s no surprise that 81% of youth who ever used tobacco say they started with a flavored product and 97% of youth who vape say they only use a flavored product.

“The use of e-smoking products among youth is at epidemic levels, especially in Hawaii,” Tui maintained.

During the hearing, Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai, Kalama Valley) asked Laverne Moore, a special education teacher at McKinley High School and HSTA teacher lobbyist, what lawmakers should or should not be doing to combat youth vaping because “it doesn’t look like what we’re doing is working.”

Moore said, “I deal with this, almost daily, My students are doing it. They say they have to go to the bathroom, but what they’re really doing is vaping. The security guard finds them, takes away the pipe, and on the way back to my class, they pull another friend out of class. And they’re vaping again.

“The really sad part is that the students who are vaping are missing classes, their grades are going down…And that’s one of the reasons for students are not graduating on time because they don’t have enough credits to graduate. It’s serious,” Moore concluded.

Student input needed to end epidemic, House says

According to the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Hawaii has one of the highest rates of middle and high school usage in the nation at 15.7% and 25.5% respectively. Moreover, 27% of middle school students and a whopping 42% of high school students have tried e-cigarettes.

During the hearing, McKinley High School junior Austin Tucker delivered poignant testimony speaking to how bad things really are at the school level.

“I personally have a lot of experience with vape usage, and I’m currently addicted to nicotine,” Tucker started. “I know a lot of different people in my school, and I can still confidently say that about 50% of them, half of them, are the ones vaping. So it’s to the point where kids are leaving class to go vape in the bathrooms to interrupt their learning. It’s always been like that.”

Tucker went on to paint the dire picture at his school, saying that kids are asking friends, and even complete strangers, to use their vapes.

House Health, Human Services & Homelessness Committee Chair Ryan Yamane (D, Mililani, Waipio Gentry, Waikele), asked Tucker if there are any programs at school where students can give up and turn in their vaping products.

Tucker said that if a teacher catches a student vaping, they get in trouble and recommended that teachers “guide them to quit instead of punish them for being blind to how unhealthy vaping is for you.”

While moving House Bill 1570 forward, Yamane included additions, including having the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) immediately coordinate student input on the topic to include all school complexes and independent schools.

“By using all the complex areas, that means all parts of the state will have student input on monitoring this big issue,” Yamane said.

The Department of Health would also help establish a “take-back” program available at all high schools and intermediate schools to collect and destroy all confiscated vaping products.

The bill will next be heard by the House Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.