By now, the story is painfully familiar. A middle schooler caught vaping in the bathroom. A parent finds a disposable device in a high schooler’s backpack. A teacher confiscates a candy-colored flavored vape that looks more like a highlighter than a threat to a child’s health. Behind it all, an illicit industry thrives, flooding South Carolina with illegal products designed to hook the next generation.
Senate Bill 287 is our chance to stop it. The Senate has already passed the bill with overwhelming, bipartisan support. More than two dozen lawmakers back its House companion. But right now, it’s stuck in the House Judiciary Committee, gathering dust as the legislative session ticks away. The House must act because our kids can’t afford another year of inaction.
This isn’t just a policy debate. It’s a public health crisis.
According to the CDC and the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, over 115,000 high schoolers in our state, 47%, are vaping. Even more alarming, 95% of these students use flavored disposable products: brightly packaged, candy-flavored vapes, almost all imported illegally from China. Despite a federal ban on flavored disposables enacted by the FDA in 2020, this remains a multi-billion-dollar black market. A Wall Street Journal investigation uncovered that most of these illegal vapes originate in Shenzhen, China, where they have been banned domestically, but are manufactured and then shipped directly into American convenience stores and vape shops.
As the director of student services, security & safety for the Oconee County School District, I see firsthand how vaping is harming our students and disrupting our schools. We’ve enacted district-wide policies and consequences to confront the epidemic. But we can’t do it alone. Without the authority to enforce existing federal laws at the state and local levels, South Carolina has become a welcome mat for profiteers who care more about their bottom line than the health of our children.
Senate Bill 287 doesn’t create new regulations, it gives our state the power to enforce the ones that already exist. It empowers the attorney general’s office to establish a directory of legal, compliant vaping products and gives law enforcement the tools they need to keep illegal vapes off store shelves and out of kids’ hands.
This is about drawing a clear line: if it’s not legal, it doesn’t belong here.
South Carolina’s children should not be sacrificed for the profit margins of foreign manufacturers and black-market dealers. The Senate has done its part.
Now, it’s time for the House to do theirs. Bring Senate Bill 287 to the floor. Pass it.
Because if we don’t act now, we’ll be back here next year, only with more kids addicted, more schools overwhelmed, and more futures at risk.
Evie Hughes is director of student services, security & safety for the Oconee County School District.
