Public health presents vaping-education results: nearly 1,000 students reached; survey shows early initiation and heavy use in some respondents

Joyce, reporting for public health, described a vaping-education campaign delivered to middle- and high-school students in multiple school districts. "We presented to almost a thousand students," she said, and reported the survey sample at "just under 400" responses. Joyce said the survey showed a plurality of first-use ages at 11–13, with roughly 20% of respondents indicating first use between ages 5 and 10 in the subgroup of respondents who reported any vaping. She also said 27% of respondents who answered frequency questions reported vaping more than 20 times a day.

Joyce said students' most common self-reported negative effect was difficulty breathing, and that the campaign included resources for students who want to quit (texting programs and online help). The public-health poster and handout will be distributed through district email systems to reach parents, pending school approval; Joyce is requesting that schools send the material to parents by email. She also described a billboard contest and said she will return with a report in June on jail interviews and surveys related to fentanyl programming.

Council members praised the graphics and outreach and noted that opioid-settlement funds had supported marketing and communications for campaigns like this one. Joyce said survey distribution methods varied by district (opt-in in some districts), which affected response rates and introduced sampling bias, and she cautioned that some survey responses appeared inconsistent across items.