The Chair of the Kamloops Thompson School Board is troubled by an explosion of vaping among young people.

Kathleen Karpuk says despite a ban on smoking on all school property, which includes vaping, the devices are hard to catch making enforcement tricky.

“We do see a lot more instances of vaping. Again we do have a ban on it. It is challenging to try and enforce that ban. The devices are very hard to detect.”

Karpuk says adding to the problem is the galling way the product is targeting young people with no apparent regulatory crackdown.

“Our concern is that there is chemicals in that substance that are not healthy. It is difficult to know when they are laced with nicotine, which does lead to addiction. They are being specifically marketed to teens with bubblegum flavouring and that type of thing.”

She says the other concerning marketing technique is selling vaping as a healthy alternative to smoking when that is likely not the case.

Kamloops South MLA Todd Stone has tabled a private members bill to compel better enforcement to protect young people from vaping.