Dear Editor, As the current senior executive director of the Vermont Principals’ Association, I consider the health of our kids one of my top concerns, but I need help. We are finding nicotine devices that look like pens, highlighters and USB drives. While cigarettes can be smelled from a bloc k away, the alternatives are designed to blend in with school supplies, and some don’t even emit smoke or vapor. Flavors like “Tropical Rainbow Blast” and “Banana Taffy Ice” aren’t fooling anybody, but loopholes allow products to be sold as aids to help adults stop smoking. These are not for adults. They are designed to get middle and high schoolers addicted to nicotine. We need to stop penalizing youth and focus on holding retailers accountable for selling to minors in the first place. Having worked with students since 1993, I can confirm the problem is not going away unless we stop it.  S.198, which passed the Senate and is now before the House Ways and Means Committee, would regulate and tax tobacco products and tobacco substitutes. It would also close the gaps on products like nicotine pouches, which are targeting our kids on social media and pushed by influencers as “natural” in an attempt to hide high concentrations of nicotine. READ MORE Out of 6.5 million tobacco alternatives for sale in the U.S., only 45 are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, none of which are pouches or candy flavored, meaning almost every single product on store shelves is unauthorized and unvetted.  We have no idea what these products do to a young person’s brain over the long term. We spent 50 years fighting the tobacco industry to protect our health, and we can’t stop now. Please support S.198 and visit flavorshookkidsvt.org to learn more. Our students deserve a healthy future that isn’t dictated by the nicotine industry. Jay Nichols Berkshire, Vt. Read the story on VTDigger here: The new face of nicotine in our schools. ...read more read less