Teen vaping is on the rise across the country.A new study found 21 percent of high school seniors are vaping nicotine in 2018.  That's nearly double the amount of teens who reported vaping last year.

The Washoe County School District is trying to battle the issue before it gets worse in northern Nevada. The school district finds that students who vape are more likely to try other types of smoking.

"We're definitely hearing that vaping and vape use is up and a concern with our kids,” says Katherine Loudon, coordinator for school counseling.

The district says it's not only worried about how often students vape, but it's also worried about the perception kids have with using the pens.

“Students feeling that there are no tobacco products in it, misunderstanding what nicotine is, the smells that are produced by vaping are sometimes confusing,” says Loudon.

Loudon says counselors and administrators are putting programs in place to educate the kids. Their hope is to prevent students from putting themselves at risk of the health concerns that come along with vaping.

“It's not similar to someone who's been smoking cigarettes for years and years and then they're reducing the method, they're introducing nicotine into their system and chemicals that are still very harmful to a developing student,” says Loudon.

The folks over at The Biggest Little Vape Shop say the cost and ability to remove nicotine from the pen has become a popular option amongst parents of teenagers.

"There are a lot of parents that are very concerned about what their children are vaping, so they will come and buy it for the children themselves,” says Tamme Elster, general manager at The Biggest Little Vape Shop.

Elster says parents are also coming into her store because it's tougher to regulate products kids purchase online.

“All that has to happen is a parent to get too trusting and sign off and show their ID to accept that package, so there are plenty of kids that are trying it,” says Elster.

Despite the trend growing nationally, Elster is hopeful our community can slow down teenage use of nicotine through vaping.

“We have to teach our children what the consequences of their actions are, making these poor choices to vape something that's even stronger than an actual cigarette is not in their best interest."

If you’d like to learn more about the Washoe County School District’s policy on using vapes, you can go to: https://www.washoeschools.net/site/default.aspx?pagetype=3&moduleinstanceid=1847&viewid=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&renderloc=0&flexdataid=20863&pageid=1187

You can also find more information from the lung association at: https://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/2017/06/dont-be-fooled-ecig-aerosol-not-harmless.html