Two high school students hospitalized after using vape pen

By: Brittany Comak

Email: bcomak@abc6.com

Twitter: @BComakABC6

WESTPORT, Mass. (WLNE) – Two Westport High School students are recovering after being sent to the hospital from ingesting an e-cig laced with THC.

School staff called police Friday morning after noticing a student that was acting erratically and appeared under the influence.

“Very hectic. Nobody knew what was going on,” described one student.

When they tried to give the student medical attention, police say he became violent, forcing them to restrain him.

The entire incident forced the school into a code blue medical emergency, which left students stuck in their classrooms unsure of what was happening.

“We thought that someone had gotten seriously hurt or something really bad was happening,” said student Ava Couto.

As it turns out it wasn’t just this one student, but an entire group who had vaped from the same pen containing both nicotine and THC; the same ingredient in pot.

“There have been some rumors going around that there was multiple people vaping and doing drugs in our school,” said Couto. “But we never thought it was true.”

Upon finding out about the incident, one of the student’s fathers allegedly drove to the school and assaulted his son. He was arraigned on Friday in Fall River.

Two of the students who had used the e-cig had to be hospitalized.

“This is a problem in many schools,” said parent Alfred Feliciano

Dr. Jason Rafferty of Bradley and Hasbro Children’s Hospitals says one of the risks with using vapes is that the ingredients can be much stronger.

“Concentrations can be very high and so then the side effects that we see are magnified that much,” explained Rafferty.

The incident comes as the country is seeing a rise in vaping illnesses.

In response, Walmart announced Friday it would no longer be selling e-cigarettes.

Feliciano says he’s discussed with his daughter the dangers of vaping and the necessity of saying no to peer pressure.

“It’s just as dangerous, if not even more so, than smoking,” said Feliciano. “It’s more concentrated. And you really don’t know what can be mixed into it.”

In a statement to parents posted on their website, the school said that they hope students learn from this incident and take the dangers of vaping seriously.

“We were shocked, and we never thought that would have happened in our school because it’s such a small town,” said Couto.

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