Representatives of the Tri-County Community Partnership (TCCP) and POW’R Against Tobacco appeared at Crawford’s February 22 meeting with one goal: to collaborate with the town board on drug abuse awareness and drug-free initiatives.

Alayne Eisloeffel, program director and project coordinator of TCCP, opened the conversation by explaining her organization to the board and the public. The TCCP, originally founded in 2016, is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of drug and alcohol abuse and providing support to families affected. This organization includes the Tri-County Youth Partnership, comprising students from Pine Bush High and Middle School.

Recently, Eisloeffel and students from the youth group surveyed students in the Pine Bush School District about their thoughts and usage of vape pens. Through their results, they found that a small portion of 8th, 10th, and 12th vaped within the past month and a larger portion believed that vaping has no negative effects.

“Six percent of 8th graders, five percent of 10th graders, and 10 percent of 12th graders have used vape devices in the past 30 days,” Eisloeffel said. “And 47 percent of 8th graders, 36 percent of 10th graders, and 39 percent of 12th graders believe there’s little or no risk of harm to themselves if they use vaping devices.”

Three students from the youth group then shared their findings on vape usage and the support they received from the school district to ban vaping altogether.

“Over the past two weeks, we’ve obtained more than 400 signatures from both staff and students to support our community and prohibit vaping in our workplace,” said Sarah Frank, a freshman from PBHS. “This way there’ll be almost no one in harm, and many won’t have to worry about the influence and danger of vaping.”

“Vaping can be harmful to not only adults but also children, and these harmful effects have been proven to be true through scientific research,” said Phoenix Johnson, another freshman. “One of these effects is how vaping affects literally other parts of your body as well as your brain.”

“We’re here to speak about vaping and public parks, and how vaping can affect the health and unity of our community,” said Caydene Losey, a fellow freshman. “Discarded vape cartridges can pollute water and land with hazardous waste.”

Following these students was Leilani Lockett, community engagement and lead coordinator of POW’R Against Tobacco, a partnership funded by the NYS Department of Health. POW’R operates in Putnam, Orange, Westchester, and Rockland County and aims to minimize tobacco use and its retail presence through various initiatives and advocation for stronger state laws.

“We’ve worked with many municipalities to strengthen laws around tobacco and vape products,” Lockett said. “It’s the best of what we can do, we don’t want little ones to be in parks with these products.”

“We would love to meet with you at a further date and give you some information. We’re a free program so please reach out,” Lockett said.