SHOULD teens who normally smoke be allowed to have e-cigs at school?

The whole thorny subject was raised when the mum of a 14 year-old Kearsley Academy schoolboy was unhappy that the school took away her son’s e-cigs.

Mason Dunn had started smoking at 12 following the death of his father. His mother, Sue, had tried everything from patches to going to the doctor to try to get him to stop but nothing had worked. He had started using e-cigs instead but had been stopped from “vaping” at school.

I’ve some sympathy with both Mason and his mum, also a smoker, but the school is right.

They can’t allow Mason to use his e-cigs because of the example it sets to others. They also argue it’s a no-smoking site for everyone as well as being a healthy school, trying to encourage healthy lifestyles, and understandably, smoking doesn’t figure in this.