Legislators will introduce bill for vaping prevention in schools and renew call for T21; Cambria steps up to educate students
Lead by Senator Carla Nelson and Senator Paul Anderson, Republicans from the Senate and Democrats from the House came together as a bipartisan, bicameral group to respond to the vaping crisis in Minnesota’s schools.
“The U.S. Surgeon General says nicotine is addictive and can harm the adolescent brain,” said Senator Nelson, Chair of the Senate E-12 Education Policy and Finance Committee. “It’s not just tobacco that concerns us anymore, it’s vaping and nowhere is this more prevalent than in our schools. Kids make up one-third of all e-cigarette users, in part because the tobacco industry has spent $100 million a year marketing kid-flavored, high nicotine products.” Nelson announced her intention to introduce a bill to ban flavored vapes next session. “Most teens are enticed by candy-flavored vapes but are unaware of the dangers of vaping,” Nelson said before sharing a conversation with a smoke shop owner who told her that without flavors, there would be no student vaping.
Representative Heather Edelson (DFL- Edina) joined Nelson to announce the “Vaping Prevention and Awareness Act” that will be introduced in the upcoming legislative session. “We know we need to ramp up education in our schools about the harms of nicotine and vaping,” said Edelson. “I’m looking forward to working with Senator Nelson on their initiative.”
“Vaping is dangerous – it’s very unhealthy for the brain and the lungs, as it is, moreover, it’s one step away from getting kids to experiment with THC or other drugs,” said Marty Davis, CEO and President of Cambria. “We started this campaign, They Lied. We Know, as a pilot in Minnetonka High School focused on educating kids…to educate kids. We hope to take the campaign statewide, and we’ve already had requests to expand into other states as well. Our campaign is centered around, ‘They Lied. We Know’, and we’ve sloganed, #EscapeTheVape, which the kids have really embraced.” This campaign is a student-focused education platform to help kids learn and teach each other about the serious health risks of vaping. “Kids don’t like smoking, they won’t even get into a car with someone who is smoking-they simply don’t think vaping is smoking and quite likely, vaping is worse!” Davis shared.
As part of the response to vaping, the legislators renewed their call for raising the statewide age to purchase tobacco and nicotine products to 21.
“Plymouth and Minnetonka, two of the cities I represent, were early adopters and leaders in passing T21 over the past couple of years, and I’m proud to continue to work with them to pass T21 statewide,” said Senator Anderson.
Nelson is the chief author of the bipartisan T21 bill, and Anderson is a co-author. T21 policies have been enacted in more than 50 Minnesota communities, and the National Academy of Medicine estimates a 25% reduction in youth tobacco use if tobacco age is raised to 21.
“In addition to serving as a lawmaker, I’m also a parent of a high schooler and middle schooler,” added Anderson. “The realities of tobacco have gone from smoking pits behind the stadium back when I was in high school, to students vaping while sitting in the classroom today. The successful marketing campaigns of cigarette and vaping companies to promote vaping as a ‘healthy alternative’ to smoking, have unfortunately been extremely successful at making addicts out of kids, and our kids health are now failing because of it. Working together in a bipartisan, pragmatic, commonsense way, we can pass T21.”
Representative Patty Acomb (DFL- Minnetonka) echoed the needs for T21. “Let’s show the country we can lead in a divided legislature by putting our kids’ health first,” said Acomb. “I’ll continue to fight to raise the legal sales age to 21 because our kids deserve to be safe and healthy.”