COLUMBUS, Ohio — Central Ohio school leaders and students involved in drug prevention programs say teens are using drugs that are more difficult to detect.
Over the last three months, 10TV requested records of drug incidents and police reports from school districts and law enforcement agencies throughout the Columbus area.
It’s becoming more common that teenagers, some in middle school, are vaping.
After reviewing records from 18 central Ohio school districts, cases of vaping have been reported in nearly all of them.
Among those cases, officials have found vaping with THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. Reports also indicated that a 16-year-old was carrying LSD.
10TV reporter Lindsey Mills talked with Deputy Dan Fahy, a school resource officer at Franklin Heights High School in the South-Western City Schools district.
In his office, he has a small test kit that’s used to detect THC in the vaping devices that he finds. Fahy said on average, he uses one of these kits once a month. He said since he started working at Franklin Heights High School in 2017, he's noticed an increase in vaping among students.
Fahy, along with school leaders and students, are concerned because vape products and THC cartridges are easily accessible online and are easy to hide.
"We are seeing more of the vaping, not as many cigarette cases anymore. It's THC in vape form rather than marijuana," Fahy said. "it is definitely becoming more and more prevalent with the decreased cost."
Thursday on 10TV News at 6 p.m., Lindsey Mills digs deeper into what other central Ohio school districts are seeing when it comes to drugs among teens. She also speaks with drug-prevention advocates on what they’re doing to get ahead of the problem.