SF Students say JUUL vaporizer easy to use at school
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- According to its website, San Francisco based company JUUL, accommodates cigarette-like strength nicotine levels.
The vaporizer looks like a USB drive. It's a design that some Lincoln High School students in San Francisco say makes it easy to use right on campus, even though the campus is both smoke and vape free.
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"They go to the bathroom and do it or they try to just bend over under the table and take a little puff," said Ronnie Vidau.
San Francisco Unified School District is working to educate students.
"We want our young people to know that electronic vapor products are not safe," said Erica Lingrell who is a Program Administrator that supports health education across the district.
Students we spoke with say they don't use JUUL but have some ideas about why other students do.
"Teachers can't notice you all the time, it's easier to do," said Desean Crawford.
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"They're mostly used for tricks like smoke tricks," said Vidau.
In an email to ABC7 News, a spokesperson for JUUL writes, "We strongly condemn the use of our product by minors, and it is in fact illegal to sell our product to minors. No minor should be in possession of a JUUL product."
Youth Outreach Workers who are also students like Kaya Lehr-Love want to inform their peers.
"This is just one of their ways to get you into smoking it's just a marketing thing," said Lehr-Love.
JUUL says it's working to reduce the number of minors who use tobacco products including vapor products with initiatives that include limiting website sales to ages 21 and over, a secret shopper program to monitor age verification of retailers and working with schools, law enforcement and community leaders.
According to SFUSD, an anonymous survey given to students on health risk behaviors shows that the use of electronic vapor products has gone down. School officials believe that data suggests the youth outreach program has been effective.
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