Eastmont & Wenatchee School Districts Partner For Drug & Vape Community Education

Columbia Valley Community Health, Wenatchee and Eastmont School Districts are coordinating to host a Youth Vaping and Drug Prevention Night in February 2020. The free forum will tackle the concerns connected to the emergence of vapor products and access to cannabis products among youth.

"This is touched off by results from a statewide Healthy Youth survey," said Diana Haglund, Wenatchee School District Communications director.

The Healthy Youth survey is a biannual survey that is conducted in schools all over the state to measure adolescent health risk behavior. 21% of tenth graders who use vape products revealed that THC is in the vapor products they are using.

"Those results indicated that though alcohol use was at an all time low, e-cigarettes and vapor products use was increasing. These are very alarming results. The two districts came together and said we need to do something about this and really start sharing information with the public,"  said Haglund.

Topic experts, such as Confluence Health, Liquor and Cannabis Board and Washington State Patrol, will be presenting information during the meeting. Information shared will vary from statistics, identification, risks and prevention measures. There will be two parts to the event.

"There will be informational booths from community and state organizations that'll be open from 6:30 to 7. Then there will be a panel presentation at 7," said Haglund.

The event is on February 6 at Eastmont High School, but the entities are expecting a large turnout. This is the first community forum shared between the two school districts, but according to Haglund this is the first in a series of similar community discussions.