Two former Kamloops high school students are seen vaping off the school grounds at Valleyview Secondary (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

VAPING CONCERNS

MLA Stone: Parents should be “angry” over lack of B.C. regulations on vaping products

Sep 18, 2019 | 8:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — Following a seventh death in the U.S. related to a vaping, and the first illness in Canada revealed on Wednesday, health concerns over vaping are heightened.

Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone has been pushing for tougher regulations on vaping since the spring, but he has grown frustrated with the lack of movement from the NDP government. On Wednesday, he sent an open letter to Health Minister Adrian Dix, hoping the province bans flavoured vaping products.

“I’m angry and parents around British Columbia should be angry,” said Stone, who said on Wednesday he is thinking about his three daughters and other B.C. teens at risk. “Five months ago, I introduced a private members’ bill in the legislature to crack down on youth vaping, which is surging here in British Columbia and indeed across North America.”

According to Health Canada, about 15 per cent of students in Grades 10 to 12 used a vaping product in a period of 30 days in 2016-17. Another study conducted by British Medical Journal reported there was a 74 per cent increase in teens vaping in Canada from 2017 to 2018.

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Stone’s letter comes on the same day it was publicized that a young person in London, Ontario was recently on life support. The youth had a severe case of pulmonary illness, believed to be linked to vaping.

It all comes on the heels of a seventh death in the U.S. due to vaping. On Wednesday, the State of New York followed in Michigan’s footsteps and banned the sale of flavoured E-cigarettes. Stone wonders why it’s taking the B.C. government so long to implement his bill.

“That’s one of the measures I’ve called in my legislation,” noted Stone, who also wants a ban on flavoured vaping products in B.C. and across the country. “But I’m dumbfounded as to why [B.C. Premier] John Horgan and Adrian Dix have not acted. They need to do more now to protect the health and safety of our kids.”

Darcy Rowden has been vaping for about two years now. The former Valleyview Secondary student who graduated last year started up in Grade 11. He says it was just the cool thing to do.

“A bunch of my buddies were just doing it,” he said. “It’s been around for a while. It was just being handed around, passed around in our whole group, so we just all shared it, then everyone started to them.”

Darcy Rowden has been vaping for about two years now, starting in Grade 11 when he attended Valleyview Secondary (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

Rowden says he’s addicted but admits it’s more habitual than anything.

“It’s one of those things. If you’re bored, you do it. You always just reach for it,” he noted.

Pharmacists say for teens who may be addicted to nicotine, the best alternative to vaping is smoking cessation products. They are free under the province’s program to help people quit smoking.

Rowden, despite illnesses and deaths from vaping, still plans to do it. When he was in high school, he noticed younger students starting, following in the footsteps of the older kids.

“Most of it is related to one specific vape. It’s all pretty similar, [but] I ain’t dead yet.”