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Alpena waits to see effect of vaping ban

News Photo by Julie Goldberg Vaping and tobacco products are seen on Thursday at Wild Wild West Tobacco in Alpena.

ALPENA — Nobody knows how Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s ban on flavored electronic cigarette products will affect businesses, since no notice was given before the ban was announced Wednesday, said Wyatt Libby, assistant manager of Wild Wild West Tobacco in Alpena.

Meanwhile, Alpena High School Principal Tom Berriman said vaping already is banned in the school, but the ban — implemented after the governor said fruit-flavored products are used to hook young people on nicotine — helps the school a little bit.

“I don’t think it’s going to impact us a whole lot,” Berriman said. “I’m hoping that we see less of it, because there’s less access to it, but as we all know, what’s going on to happen is people are going to buy it up, they’re going to buy it online, there’s access to stuff. But we’re hoping that, by banning this, it gives less access to it so we’ll see less and less of it.”

Whitmer moved Wednesday to implement health regulations that would make Michigan the first state to ban the sale of flavored nicotine vaping products in retail stores and online. From 2017 to 2018, e-cigarette use went up 78% among high school students and 48% among middle school students, according to a news release from Whitmer’s office. In 2018, more than 3.6 million kids were regular users.

Retailers will have 30 days to comply with the rules once those are filed in the upcoming weeks.

Until then, “we don’t really know what to do,” Libby said.

Vaping is an issue in schools. Students have been caught throughout the past couple of years vaping in hallways or in classrooms, Berriman said.

Tim Marquardt, school resource officer at Alpena High and the Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer for Alpena Public Schools, said he doesn’t want to see the product in the hands of students.

“I have to do more research on it,” Marquardt said of Whitmer’s proposal. “The school has always had school-related discipline, but law enforcement never really had the teeth to back them up, and now we do.”

Alpena High junior Evan Carlson said the ban is good, because it’s going to stop younger people from going after flavors that they think are harmless.

The ban will last for six months, with the possibility of being renewed for another six months.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s only temporary, but I do hope the state Legislature will take more action,” Carlson said.

Carlson said students don’t vape in the school, since the school has been on top of it, but, in the parking lot and at different events, it’s relevant.

“Vaping is like a need for some kids now, and it’s really sad,” Alpena junior Jamie Beaubien said. “They actually need it to get through the day.”

“It’s an addiction,” Carlson said.

Beaubien and Carlson both said the students who vape know the health risks, but they don’t care. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that nearly 100 cases of severe lung illnesses associated with vaping were reported in 14 states from June to mid-August.

Beaubien said some students have said e-cigarettes are better than cigarettes and she said that’s their excuse to make them feel good about what they’re doing.

“Some of them just don’t care, others just don’t know,” Carlson said. “It has a lot more chemicals. They don’t know what vaping does to you.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.

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