Students in the library are typically buried in books, stressing over homework, or captivated by the Netflix show on their phone screen. It seems innocent and peaceful, but recently, some rebellious students have been using the library as their ‘juuling lounge.’
A look at what a study room may look like when being used as a ‘juuling lounge’.
‘Juul’ is the most popular brand of e-cigarettes. Kids find anywhere they can to juul: bathrooms, stairwells, but why the library? “Nobody goes in there,” one student said, referring to the study rooms on the far right wall. Students who choose to juul in the library have become stealthy about it. One student described their technique: “I lay on the floor and blow (the vapor) into my shirt.”
The doors have been taken off the study rooms and the lights are on a timer, but while juuling is a problem in the library, it’s not the reason that these changes have been made.
“I love the rumor mill here at U-32.” Meg Allison, one of our librarians said. “We removed the doors not because of juuling, and not because of handicap accessibility, we actually removed the doors because students were piling themselves into those rooms. They were eating, they were making out, they were using the rooms inappropriately.”
Nobody has actually been caught juuling in the library. “I have not personally seen it.”Allison said. “But I certainly know that I smelled it.” Juul vapor smells like whatever the flavor is, and Allison described that what she has smelled as ‘sweet’.
Allison is surprised that this is the new ‘cool’ thing to do. “I’m curious to know, is this a trend?” It seems that the consequences should be enough to discourage students from juuling in school. The 2018-19 Student-Parent Handbook states that the first offense for juuling is “immediate suspension”, but repeated offenses can lead to suspension of up to 90 days.
So why are students still doing it? Well, one student’s reason is “it tastes good,”but it seems that the taste isn’t what’s keeping kids hooked. Each ‘juul pod’ contains over 50 mg of nicotine, over 4 times the amount in a cigarette, and it eventually becomes addictive. So once you start, it’s difficult to stop.
Allison also informed the admin multiple times, but because it was after the fact, it was near impossible for them to catch the students juuling.
“While we are frustrated that students are not heeding the advice of the medical community about vaping and suspect that students are using Juuls and other devices at school,” Amy Molina said, “it has been difficult to deal with the issue because of how easy it is to get them.”
