It may look like your child’s USB flash drive, but it could be what’s called a juul, and it contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.

“It’s advertised as a healthy alternative to smoking, but really it isn’t a healthy alternative. It still affects your lungs. One vaping pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes, but students can conceal vaping better, more easily than they can cigarettes,” Maureen Letcher, principal at Hollidaysburg Senior High School, said.

Faculty at Hollidaysburg area schools are taking action to educate their students, parents, and themselves on the dangers of what they call “technology generation’s cigarettes.”

“It’s the newest way to administer drugs like nicotine, caffeine, even narcotics like marijuana would be administered this way, so it is the newest generation’s means by which they have access to these drugs,” Rob Heinrich, principal at Hollidaysburg Junior High School, said.

Letcher and Heinrich agree the move isn’t about catching students vaping and disciplining them. Their focus is on better, healthier lives.

“It’s our job if there’s anything out there that is harmful to them to do everything we can to deter them from that behavior,” Letcher said.

Both principals advise parents to do a simple google search to better educate themselves on what these vaping devices look like and the dangers that come with their use.