KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
The Way Out Recovery SCV officials are cautioning parents about several potential dangers that could come with allowing their children to use vaping products.
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A rising trend among youth, vaping can make it difficult for a parent to know whether or not their child is using THC because of the variety of fruity flavors vape products now come in, according to Bob Sharits, program director at The Way Out Recovery SCV.
“If you’re allowing them to vape, they could be using THC right in front of you, and you’re not going to be able to tell by the smell,” Sharits said. “It’s hard to get that across to parents … because even 10 years ago or so, when somebody was smoking weed or they had weed, you knew it because you could smell it.”
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Travis Sabadin, a retired deputy on the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Juvenile Intervention Team, or J-Team, recalled a mother he recently spoke with after he learned that her child had been doing drugs at home for three months.
While the mother initially insisted her son was not on drugs, when Sabadin asked about anything out of the ordinary in her child’s life lately, she said that his room had a new strawberry smell that she attributed to an air freshener.
“I said, ‘How long has that air freshener been around?’” Sabadin said. “She said for three months. I said, ‘Well I know he’s been doing drugs in your house for the last three months because I’ve got the proof that he has.’ She was just blown away by it, that that’s actually happening in her house.”
Another potential danger with vaping — with or without THC — is that the long-term health effects remain unknown, according to Sabadin.
“You’re taking that artificial flavor and you’re inhaling it,” he said. “You have all that going into your lungs, into your throat… What’s it going to do to the inside? There’s no research on it.”
In addition, Sharits noted that regardless of whether a person believes in “gateway drugs” — meaning that starting with things like vaping or marijuana can lead to more serious drug use later on — the act of vaping is an indicator for future behavior.
“The behaviors behind vaping mimic what they will be doing later on,” he said, adding that even if a child is not using THC in their vaping products now, as they get older, vaping products containing THC will become easily available to them due to the recent legalization of marijuana.
“The vaping itself with or without any THC in it is becoming such a concern,” said Sharits. “A lot of kids are doing it.”
For those parents who tell Sabadin that they’d rather their child vape than smoke weed, he noted that the reality is, many kids are already using THC in their vaping products without their parents realizing it.
“They genuinely thought they were doing what was right for their kid,” he said. “Once you provide that information to the parents, a lot of them are very thankful. A lot of them didn’t know.”
Ed. Note: This article is a KHTS Community Spotlight based on a recent interview with The Way Out Recovery SCV.28118 Bouquet Canyon Road
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The Way Out Recovery SCV – Santa Clarita
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What a shame that the majority of this state’s voters want the money and sacrifice the children. Mary-Jane isn’t harmful they said. I understand the next step is lethal drugs. One hit and you’re dead with the stuff that’s on the street today. Not to worry, all over in about thirty-seven years.