Before 17-year-old Adrianna Taylor was found dead at her Semmes home following a fentanyl overdose, she sent a warning to her parents and authorities: The powerful and deadly drug is laced in vapes and is being used inside schools.

A year later, Alabama schools continue to implement ways to crackdown on vaping inside their buildings. The continued efforts come at a time when close to 20% of Alabama high school teens report using vape products.

The efforts also coincide with a scare that emerged last year with the growth of illicit fentanyl use.

“Fentanyl is now winding up in different things that they are taking,” Spanish Fort Police Chief John Barber said. “They might think it’s a straight vape or a THC-laced gummy, but there is fentanyl added to it. It’s one of those things where a little too much ends up in an overdose situation. We’ve seen that in our community.”

The continued crackdown, enforcement and scrambling to find ways to educate students about vaping comes as the device has found itself more inside school hallways. At Madison County Schools, among the state’s 10 largest school districts, a “significant 85 percent increase” in Class 2 vaping violations occurred from 2019 to 2023. According to Jennifer Whitt, the school system’s coordinator for student services, the last school year saw a “notable increase in vape-related incidences” falling into a Class 3 or 4 violation which, in most school systems around Alabama, is related to drug possession and use.

“This underscores the importance of comprehensive education, prevention and support measures to address this growing issue and safeguard the well-being of our students,” Whitt said.

Drug testing and sensors

Some of the latest efforts going on in Alabama include:

• In Spanish Fort, Barber says that every vape product confiscated within one of the schools in the city limits will be tested for drug under a zero-tolerance policy. Other police agencies have adopted a similar stance in Baldwin County, including Fairhope and Daphne.
• Vape sensors are being installed inside the bathrooms at all Limestone County high schools after a pilot program at West Limestone High School detected more than 200 vapes over a two-year period. Vape sensors are also installed at all the middle and high schools in Walker County. Lauderdale County School in Florence is utilizing a state grant to purchase and install sensors as well.
• Schools continue to monitor and update their anti-tobacco policies to address vaping and to increase penalties on devices that are found with illegal drugs. The Autauga County School Board, at the start of last year’s school year, updated its tobacco policy to specify that unidentified substances intended to be used with electronic cigarettes and/or vapes can be classified as a Class III offense, similar to how the drug is addressed in student handbooks elsewhere in Alabama. For most schools, the possession of vapes laced with an illegal substance can lead to expulsion or alternative school.

At Jefferson County Schools, the state’s second-largest public school system, vaping – possession, sale, and use – is considered a Class III “major infraction.” The school system’s annual incident report from last year shows there were 268 incidences of students possessing a vape, with 227 offenders serving an out-of-school suspension. Of the 268, 165 were given an alternative school placement. And of the 108 caught using a vape, 79 were sent to alternative school.

None of the offenses in Jefferson County resulted in an expulsion, records show.

Zero tolerance approach

In Baldwin County, several police agencies are taking a zero-tolerance stance and are requesting all vapes confiscated at the schools be tested for drugs. If an illegal substance is detected, then criminal action can commence.

Chasity Riddick, spokeswoman with the Baldwin County School System – the state’s third largest school system – if a student is charged with a crime, expulsion is on the table for consideration. If there are no criminal charges, possessing the vape can carry stiff disciplinary action of a suspension for up to nine school days.

Related content: Alabama school issues fentanyl, vaping warning to parents as a ‘wake-up call’ to deadly trend

Barber said his crackdown, announced over the summer, has been received with “very positive reaction” from school officials, coaches and parents.

“This is a deterrent of any drug,” said Barber, adding that he will know later about how the program is received once a vape is confiscated and tested positive for drugs. That has yet to occur during the initial weeks of the school year.

Barber said that suspicious edibles and snacks confiscated by school officials will also be tested by police.

“We have separate test kits for THC and a separate one for fentanyl, meth and ecstasy,” Barber said. “If any student is caught with a vape or edible that tests positive for a narcotic, we’ll take a stance of zero tolerance.”

He said that if the student is over age 18, they will be prosecuted as an adult. Underage students would be subject to juvenile detention, he said.

“If a school administrator comes across a vape, you are looking at school discipline issues and there is also a criminal issue,” Barber said.

He said he prefers the blanket zero-tolerance approach over case-by-case enforcement.

“Every vape will be tested, and if positive for narcotics, we will prosecute,” Barber said. “I’m glad the principals are messaging about it, and we all seem to be on the same page. This is the prudent thing to do.”

Deterring vaping

Fairhope has had a similar approach in place for several years, and authorities say it’s served as a deterrent.

“The kids know we’re looking for them,” said Fairhope Police Lt. Shane Nolte. “Has it helped? I can say it’s helped. It’s got them talking about it. The vape tickets they get have to go to municipal court and when they go to court, they have to bring a parent with them.”

The city issued 46 tickets related to vaping during the 2022-2023 school year, up from 33 during 2021-2022.

“That number sounds low, but it also sounds high … that’s a lot of tickets to be writing to kids,” Nolte said. “But when we test the vapes, we are seeing they have THC and they are also being charged with possession of marijuana, instead of the vape.”

Thus far, Fairhope authorities are only finding THC laced within the vapes. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has not been an issue, Nolte said.

The presence of vape sensors, which can be costly for school districts, is also having a deterring effect.

At Danville Middle School in Morgan County, principal Chad Kelsoe said the presence of vape sensors in schools for the past year has led to a significant drop in students found in possession of vapes or vaping inside the school.

“I think you can chalk that up to students knowing we have the sensors and them refraining from bringing vapes to school,” he said. “But in the same respect, you can attribute some of it to the increasing discreteness of the vapes that are available. Students can be pretty savvy when it comes to how they use them as well. We must be constantly vigilant for these items.”

In Lauderdale County, a nearly $70,000 safety grant will be used to purchase and install vape sensors, a continuation of a program of installing the sensors at the schools that began about three years ago.

The county does not include anything in its policy for removing bathroom stall doors out of concern over vaping. Administrators at Wilson High School, in 2019, drew national attention after having some of the stall doors in the boy’s bathrooms removed. A school spokeswoman called it a “temporary incident.”

The school system has taken a unique approach through a partnership through the District Attorney’s Office by starting up a vape court. The program began in 2022 and serves as an early warning vape program allowing school officials to reach out to students “before they are potentially held accountable as an adult,” said school spokeswoman Whitney Coates.

She said the school district normally sees students two times per semester during vape court.