Teens wage war on E-cig industry

(KUTV) Thousands of high school students across the state have banded together, urging lawmakers to get tight on e-cigarettes.

Students and administrators at Davis High School say vaping is becoming the biggest vice for their generation.

E-cigs are virtually unregulated at the federal and state level, except that you're supposed to be 19 to buy them in Utah. Students admit they easily bypass that law by purchasing at some local shops, or online, where they don't have to show ID.

"They're making their product so they can addict my generation," said Cade Hyde, Student Body President at Davis High School, who founded an action group called SAEV -- Students Against Electronic Vaping. Hyde and thousands of other high school students across the state are calling on lawmakers to pass House Bill 333.

"This is a health use issue across the state for youth."

The legislation would put an 86 percent tax on e-cigarette products, like the tax that already exists on tobacco products. It would also restrict internet sales.

"We know this will work, because research shows for every ten percent increase in price, there will be a 6.5 percent decrease in youth purchasing," says Cade, who estimates adding the tax will decrease teen use by 50 percent.

Administrators at Davis High say they're busting more kids with e-cigs than ever and they're worried it's being used for more than just a nicotine fix.

School resource officer, Ryan Wilko says an e-cigarette can also be used to vape marijuana or heroin.

"The problem is, it's odorless, for the most part you can't smell the stuff and kids will vape in class," he says. "They'll just blow it right in their coat, you wouldn't know."

Lawmakers are listening to the students, who have met with legislators at the capitol, but the call for regulations on e-cigarettes isn't winning the kids any friends from the vaping community, who see e-cigarettes as a favorable alternative to smoking.

"If people agree children are important to society, I don't think those people should have that big of a problem when they buy an e-cigarette, having to pay a little bit more if it might drive a kid away from buying that e-cigarette," says Carson Robb, Junior Class President at Davis High School.

As of Thursday afternoon, House Bill 333 had been forwarded to a house committee for review.

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