Des Plaines approves alternative penalty for students caught vaping
Des Plaines high school students caught with alternative nicotine products such as Juul or other vaping devices now can enroll in an educational program - rather than pay the fine called for under Illinois law.
Aldermen in a 6-1 vote Monday approved the alternative penalty, which Maine West High School administrators proposed as a way to combat the rising trend of vaping among young people.
The option to enter an educational diversion program will be available only to first-time high school offenders. Under state law, people caught smoking underage the first time are penalized with a $25 fine or community service.
"If we can stop our children from getting addicted to nicotine, that's a tremendous asset for us," Alderman Malcolm Chester said.
Park Ridge, where the two other high schools in Maine Township High School District 207 are located, already has a similar ordinance. Des Plaines Police Chief Bill Kushner said about 50 students have participated in the Park Ridge program, and the city has experienced a significant decline in offenses.
The city council nearly took a much larger step toward curbing nicotine and tobacco use among young people. Three of the seven alderman at Monday's meeting supported a failed attempt to increase the age for buying and possessing any nicotine or tobacco products to 21.
"This is Des Plaines," said Alderman Dick Sayad, who proposed raising the age requirement. "We want to make a statement."
But other aldermen argued that the city should gather more information, and wait to see whether the state raises the age requirement. In late April, the Illinois Senate voted to raise the minimum smoking age from 18 to 21.
Meanwhile, other suburbs including Aurora, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Gurnee, Mundelein, Naperville and Vernon Hills, have raised the minimum age to 21 from 18 for using or buying tobacco and vaping products.
Sayad voted against the ordinance that provided an alternative penalty for high school students caught with nicotine products because he said it doesn't go far enough.
"I think this is really a step forward, but boy, it's a huge step backward," he said "We could've made a statement to a lot of communities, and we didn't get it."