(WXYZ) — Police throughout metro Detroit are looking to pull the plug on underage vape usage by targeting businesses that sell them illegally.
I rode with Detroit police during one of its tobacco enforcement efforts. They're cracking down on gas stations, liquor stores and tobacco shops that sell e-cigarettes and vape products to minors.
"There are people that are obliging to the law, but you have a small demographic that are taking advantage of it and selling to minors," Sgt. Zhao said. "It’s not a majority, but certainly one is too many for us. We don’t want anyone selling to kids."
We were with officers as they hit six gas stations on the city's east side.
Here's how the enforcement works. DPD sends undercover officers into gas stations to buy vape products. You have to be at least 21 to buy them.
The cops they're sending in are underage and even look like young teenagers.
The first stop was a BP gas station on 7 Mile. There was also a Citgo in the area of 7 Mile and Ryan.
Out of six gas stations in a two-mile radius, three sold vape products to the underage, undercover cops.
Shortly after the buys, uniformed police officers rolled in and cited the sellers. It's a $100 fine for the first offense, but repeat offenders could pay as much as $2,500.
"Surprising to you?" I asked Dr. Mayowa Reynolds, the principal at Detroit School of Arts.
"Oh no, not at all. As a principal of a high school, that’s one of our biggest concerns right now, the distraction that the underage vaping has on the student body and the ease of access," she said.
Reynolds said the vast majority of her students don't vape, but it's taking a toll on those who do.
"I’m not concerned about criminalizing them, but explaining to them that it has a flavor so they can’t taste that this nicotine is so highly addictive, and the reason they’re cutting class to vape is because they have an addiction problem," she said.
"It’s a big concern because some kids can’t make it throughout the day without doing it. They’ll pull it out in the classroom and risk getting caught," Reynolds added.
"E-cigarettes that contain any substance, whether it be nicotine flavoring or THC, produces dangerous chemicals like aldehydes which can cause lung and cardiovascular disease," Grace Rudolph with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said.
Rudolph is a youth e-cigarette consultant with the state. She said vaping overdose calls to the Michigan Poison Control Center have increased dramatically.
"We saw about 300 calls in 2011 and now we see 7,800 in 2024, which was last year, and that’s not even the whole year. The data stopped in November," she said.
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison plans to snuff out bad actors who sell vapes to minors through more enforcement efforts like this.
"If you’re going to sell vapes to make a quick buck, you’re making the wrong business decision," he said. "If they get repeat violations, I have the power as chief of police to work with our Law Department to actually sanction that business and revoke their business license, and so I have no problem shutting them down."
