Investigation: Vaping at Overlake
This month, The Weekly Hoot has been doing an investigation into vaping on Overlake’s campus. After a survey of Upper School Students and an interview with a user on campus, we are ready to report our findings.
Of the 68 responses gathered by The Weekly Hoot, 36.8% of respondents reported that they had vaped before. A further 44.1% of students said that they had been approached by another student and encouraged to vape.
Even with these numbers, the majority of respondents, 60.3%, said that they did not believe that vaping is a problem at Overlake however 57.4% of respondents do not believe that the Overlake administration controls vaping well at Overlake.
Overlake’s policy around using drugs is difficult to find. When on MyOverlake, the link to “School and Academic Policies” takes you to a “Page Not Found” message. 65% of respondents said that they didn’t know Overlake’s policy around drug use and even the 33.3% that did assumed that it was solely, “do not vape”.
Overlake’s policy around harmful substances reads that “the possession, use, distribution, or sale of harmful substances is prohibited.” If a student is found doing any of these things, they will be referred to the SRB. The student is also required to obtain a drug and alcohol assessment from a drug and alcohol counselor, allowing Overlake to see the results, and have a meeting with school administrators and parents around next steps. The entire policy is available here.
Students who answered that they did vape were asked a further set of questions. When asked how much they spent on vape products, most respondents said they spend $0 but the numbers went up to $20 a week. The majority of students started using around age 16 however some students started as early as nine years old.
Most students said that they started vaping either because it was fun, cool, or just to see what is was like. Our source reported that they started vaping after a friend suggested that they try it — and they haven’t stopped since.
42.3% of users reported vaping on Overlake’s campus, with 36.4% of those kids doing it weekly and 27.3% doing it daily. Our source uses multiple times daily but notes that it is “in no way a public endeavor or a social endeavor”. They do acknowledge that they have seen vaping be a social endeavor at Overlake. When asked when they vape, they told us that they do it during breaks — not during classes and that they vape “in the bathroom. And that’s it.”
The source is not “actively trying to stop” vaping, however, they believe that “when [they] commit, to doing that [they’re] going to go for it.” They acknowledge that getting off drugs “will be tough” but that “it’s one of the things that [they] signed up for.” When asked whether they felt like there were resources at Overlake to help with getting off drugs they said that they did and that they would feel comfortable going to them. “If it’s something that I try and I fail, and I try and I fail, then yes. I would go to them. But I probably won’t use those resources the first couple times around.”
Thinking of using? Our source says: “Tread lightly. It’s easy to turn down some bad paths and you gotta resist that. You gotta think about your future.”
Photo Credits: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/412718-e-cigarette-maker-juul-boosts-lobbying-efforts-in-face-of-regulatory
