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The shape of vaping in central Arkansas schools | 11News Investigates

As officials continue to investigate the vaping-related illnesses and deaths across the nation, we focus on the issue within three Little Rock-area schools.

ARKANSAS, USA — More numbers are in, showing the numbers of kids caught vaping in three Arkansas districts.

As federal officials continue to try and pin down a cause for more than 500 vaping-related illnesses in the U.S., including at least eight deaths, an ongoing 11News Investigation reveals some context into the numbers of teens vaping in three Little Rock-area school districts.

RELATED: Missouri man becomes 8th person in the US to die from vaping-related illness

We began by requesting data on vaping-related disciplinary incidents from Pulaski County Special School District, the Little Rock School District, the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District and the North Little Rock School District.

The PCSSD went from 26 vaping infractions two years ago to 111 last year, and just one month into this school year, they have had 18 vaping incidents. Ten of those incidents came from Sylvan Hills Middle School, with emails indicating some of those students were suspended for two days and held out of athletics.

At Maumelle High School, a student got in trouble after a friend got caught with a vape device. He told a teacher he wanted to try a reverse engineering project in class. That instructor told him to put it away and called it "not a very smart thing to do."

That apparent tinkering gets at an emerging trend. Kids are experimenting with vaping in general, and with the devices themselves.

"What parents need to be concerned about is the availability of black market products," said Scout Stubbs, the co-owner of a legal vape shop in Greenbrier, who has desperately tried to draw a distinction between her products for adults and what the kids are doing. "They go on apps like Snapchat, WhatsApp, and other apps that a lot of the younger generation are using."

As a way of showing how different the black market is from her operation, Stubbs said she often has to rely on younger employees for insight into what kids are doing to get their hands on vaping products. She holds up an empty vial that looks like a small reading lamp light bulb.

"They look a little bit like this [vial] and you buy them pre-filled with THC oil," she said. "A lot of times, they come in a colorful package."

We found evidence of that when we looked at North Little Rock's numbers. 

Among the nine incidents last school year at NLR High School, at least one spelled out a specific connection to marijuana, with another reference to closed-system devices like Juul's, also mentioned specifically.

"This is a Juul pod and these are available on the black market," said Stubbs, holding up a cartridge the size of a thumbnail. "You can find them on e-bay."

Overall, numbers for North Little Rock indicate 15 disciplinary actions for vaping last school year, but there are already seven in just five weeks this year.

RELATED: Vaping illness count tops 500 as FDA reveals criminal investigation

In Jacksonville, the district reported one incident in 2016-17, then four in each of the next two school years. Since students returned to class in August, JNPSD already has four incidents in just four weeks.

Officials with the LRSD, the state's largest school district, said they are working on processing our request and promised information early next week.

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