Brighton Police Chief Rob Bradford says at the next City Council meeting on April 18, he will present to council the first reading of a proposed ordinance that would make vaping by minors under the age of 18 illegal. Although vaping is illegal for minors under 18 under federal law, in Michigan, vaping by minors is not illegal. The ordinance would ban the sale and possession of e-cigarettes or vaping products to, and by, minors.

City officials have been told that at one Brighton school over 100 e-cigarettes or vaping devices were confiscated last year. In addition to the addictive drug nicotine, e-cigarettes can also contain volatile organic compounds. But there is an even more serious problem than kids getting addicted to nicotine, and that is the increased use of marijuana-based products in vaping devices.

On Thursday, seven Seymour, Connecticut, High School students were taken to the hospital after using a vape pen that police say contained liquid THC. That is the psychoactive compound in marijuana that causes the user to experience a “high”. Chief Bradford tells WHMI he has heard of a small number of incidents in Brighton schools involving vaping with THC liquid.

In the Connecticut incident, one student – the 15-year-old girl who allegedly supplied the vaping pen – was arrested and charged with possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and illegal distribution and sale of marijuana. Bradford says the proposed ordinance in Brighton would keep e-cigarettes from getting into the hands of youths by going after the businesses that sell such products to minors. (TT)