Police Say Some York Students Use E-Cigarettes to Smoke Pot

An Elmhurst Police investigation has revealed that some students at York High School are using e-cigarettes to smoke marijuana, the Chicago Tribune reported.

In a letter to parents, York principal Diana Smith said that police concluded that some students are ingesting tetrahydrocannabinol or THC-- the ingredient in marijuana that makes a person high -- in electronic cigarettes because “it is harder to detect.”

"The e-cigarettes, which are relatively new to us, allow the user to ingest without smell or smoke," Smith wrote in the letter.

Students are also putting marijuana in baked goods and bringing them to school to avoid detection. Smith said the behavior is not widespread, and suspects that most student marijuana use is taking place outside school hours, but some is taking place in school.

Five students, all freshmen, are facing possible expulsion as the result of the police investigation that took place this month. The students are accused of selling or distributing marijuana-laced baked goods or liquid-form THC used in e-cigarettes, Dist. 205 Superintendent Dave Pruneau told the Tribune.

Elmhurst Police Chief Michael Ruth said that while ingesting THC through electronic cigarettes isn’t anything new, it’s the first time such behavior has popped up among Elmhurst youth.

THC is extracted into liquid form and added to a electronic smoking device. Directions and recipes for extracting THC from the leafy bud are available on the Internet.

Reusable e-cigarettes, used with flavored oiles, sell for $6 to $15, along with replacement tips.

Both disposable and reusable electronic smoking devices are used by smokers trying to quit the habit. E-cigarettes paired with marijuana oil are catching on with middle and high school students who inhale the vapors to get high during class.

When smoked through an electronic cigarette, the effects of THC are 10 times greater than when smoked in regular joint or pipe, CBS Los Angeles reported.

E-cigarettes have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a smoking cessation product. Some lab tests performed on e-cigarettes found detectable levels of cancer-causing chemicals, including an ingredient used in anti-freeze in various brands of e-cigarettes, according to CNN.

Dist. 205 officials have warned students that use of e-cigarettes by minors is in violation of state law. Possession of tobacco, nicotine proudct or fluid by a student at York is a violation of school policy.

Police officers also intend to speak to eighth-grade students about the dangers of e-cigarette and drug use, Pruneau told the Tribune.