Metro Detroit schools weigh deterrents to vaping
They do it in school classrooms right in front of teachers and other students, using devices that look like flash drives and phone chargers that emit little to no odor and are easily hidden inside sleeves and hoodies.

Vape Wholesale — a form of electronic cigarettes — is booming in popularity inside Metro Detroit middle and high schools, prompting education leaders to turn to police and health officials for help.

Young people are drawn to the devices because they’re cheap, easy to access and assumed — falsely, experts say — to be safe. Adding to the problem: schools can ban vaping, but there’s no Michigan law banning minors from using e-cigarettes.

Teens are using the devices right in school, exhaling thick plumes of vapor into their clothing during class or on breaks in stairwells and bathrooms.

“Some school are saying this is an epidemic. They are dealing with it on a daily or weekly basis,” said Carol Mastroianni, executive director of the Birmingham Bloomfield Community Coalition. “They can take a hit off of it and blow smoke in a shirt sleeve. ... This is happening in middle and high school (and) as early as fifth grade.”

The coalition, which raises awareness to prevent the abuse of drugs and alcohol, said schools in Oakland and Macomb counties say vaping incidents have been increasing in middle schools and become more prevalent in high schools.

“Because vaping is not like smoking — it doesn’t smell up the hallway or bathroom — it’s easy for kids to do it in school,” said school liaison officer David VanKerckhove, with the Bloomfield Township police department. “They go into the bathroom, or a stairwell or even some kids do it in the middle of class. The problem for teachers and staff is it’s hard to detect.”

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid — the juice — into an aerosol that the user inhales. The liquid usually has nicotine and flavoring in it as well as other additives.