Orange County buying vape detectors following $5.4M Juul settlement
Orange County buying vape detectors following Juul settlement
Juul is going to cut a big check to Orange County Public Schools as part of a national settlement. The district is receiving $5.4 million of that payout and officials want to make sure that money is going back to their students by trying to protect them from the dangers of vaping.
ORLANDO, Fla. - A multi-state settlement with Juul is going to pay out millions to states.
In September, Juul settled a lawsuit with 37 states and Puerto Rico over how they advertised e-cigs to teenagers and mislabeled the nicotine content in its products. Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) just learned that $5.4 million of that settlement will be going to it.
"There were points where I couldn’t breathe without it. I couldn’t breathe properly. Like I hyperventilated a lot," said Jaylon Robinson.
Robinson, 14, was once addicted to vapes. He says he was introduced to it over a year ago in school, but today he is proud to say he’s kicked the habit.
"It feels good," said Robinson. "I feel like when I get older, and I have kids I want to be able to see that."
Orange County Public Schools says they would like to use the money from their payout to purchase vape detectors to protect students. They also want to provide counseling to students who are caught vaping.
"Once that addiction hits, a lot of things become worth the risk, so I think the counseling will be one of the best things that they could provide," said Courtney Robinson.
According to Triton Sensors, vape detectors are now in hundreds of school districts across the country including here in Florida. Triton began creating smoke detector-like sensors three years ago to help combat what they call a vaping epidemic.
"It’s kind of like a glorified smoke detector but instead of detecting smoke, they detect vape. Instead of sounding like an alarm throughout the whole school it sends a simple text message, email, or push notification to a nearby teacher," said Sales Manager for Triton Sensors Garrison Parthemore.
OCPS tell FOX 35 News it’ll be quite some time before parents start seeing these devices in schools. They still have to receive the money and jump through a few hopes before purchasing the devices.