Tiffany Evans has a lock box full of vape pens in her office.
The 38-year-old principal at GEO Next Generation Academy Indianapolis on the east side said she is facing an epidemic: teenagers vaping in the bathroom, parents buying e-cigarettes for their children and students who shake in their seats from nicotine withdrawals.
“It’s easy, it’s clear, it’s portable, and they feel like they can get away with it,” Evans said.
But sometimes, confiscating the devices or dishing out suspensions doesn’t feel like enough. That’s when Evans marches into nearby gas stations and convenience stores with a school resource officer in tow. The devices are lined up like candy, she said, with sellers targeting underage students and failing to check IDs.
Tobacco products — which cause cancer, lung and heart disease, stroke and eventually death — are illegal for anyone in Indiana under the age of 21.
“This is your responsibility,” she’ll say to the store manager. “Do you want an addicted child on your hands because you didn’t do your job?”
Evans shared her experience at a listening session Thursday, March 14, hosted by Smoke Free Indy and the Indiana State Department of Health. Community members gathered at Indiana Black Expo building to discuss a 2022 survey of Indiana middle and high school students and their smoking and vaping habits. The results of the survey didn’t surprise anyone, but the lifelong health effects alarmed parents.
“Youth who are currently using tobacco products were more likely to report psychological stress,” said Brandy Paul, a tobacco epidemiologist at the Indiana State Department of Health. “We’re seeing a large amount trying to quit.”
[Have you been thinking about quitting, too? Here’s your guide to finding help.]
Indiana has some of the highest smoking rates in the nation, with 10% of high school students and 3.3% of middle school students in the survey reporting using tobacco products in the past month. While cigarette use has hit a two-decade low, vaping and other flavored products remain popular with young Hoosiers.
That’s by design, said Kendyl Matthews, a tobacco educator for the Marion County Public Health Department. The department found that 28% of tobacco retailers in Marion County advertise within 1,000 feet of a school, with many products placed in close proximity to candy and toys.
“If (tobacco companies) can get them hooked and addicted at a younger age, they’re going to make more money as time goes on,” Matthews said.
There’s a history of targeted advertising in historically marginalized communities around Indianapolis. A 2017 study from IUPUI’s Polis Center found people of color and in low-income neighborhoods were surrounded by more tobacco retailers and had higher rates of smoking.
That’s the reality that Evans faces when she tries to save her students from bad health outcomes.
“I want them to know my name and face,” she said of tobacco retailers. “I want my kids to know I am fighting for them.”
Resources are available for young people struggling with smoking or vaping. Text DITCHVAPE to 88709, or call Quit Now Indiana at 800-784-8669 for support.
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
