{"id":111800,"date":"2026-01-05T21:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/111800\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:23:11","slug":"thc-vaping-rises-among-el-paso-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/111800\/","title":{"rendered":"THC vaping rises among El Paso youth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Throughout El Paso, the last couple of years have seen a dramatic increase in minors facing serious criminal charges for possession of THC vape pens, an El Paso Matters analysis shows.<\/p>\n<p>Records show a growing, and alarming, number of high school, middle school and even elementary school students are facing penalties usually reserved for some of the most severe offenses for their use of THC \u2014 the psychoactive component in marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>El Paso Matters analyzed data to find out how prolific THC vaping has become among minors; the laws around marijuana and efforts to transform the criminal justice system; the sometimes unsuccessful attempts at addressing substance use in minors; and the emerging research on preventing cannabis use among young people in the constantly evolving landscape of legalization in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The four-part series by reporter Claudia Lorena Silva was published in August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/elpasomatters.org\/2023\/08\/06\/el-paso-teen-vaping-thc-juvenile-felony-charges-rise\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CB_Vaping-8734.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Felony charges for vaping THC rising among El Paso youth\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\" loading=\"none\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Data from the county\u2019s juvenile probation department shows arrests for THC vaping more than tripled among minors with schools serving as the epicenter.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/elpasomatters.org\/2023\/08\/07\/things-to-know-youth-vaping-thc-el-paso\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CB_Vaping-8810.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Rise of youth vaping THC: What you need to know\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As the number of juveniles being arrested for vaping THC has skyrocketed, El Paso Matters has created a guide to help readers understand the issue.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/elpasomatters.org\/2023\/08\/08\/el-paso-schools-student-thc-vaping\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CB_BackToSchool-9326.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"El Paso schools attempt to deal with rise in THC vaping\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With little guidance from the state, disciplinary methods for students caught with a THC vape pen can vary from school to school even within the same district.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/elpasomatters.org\/2023\/08\/09\/el-paso-juvenile-thc-vaping-prevention\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CB_Vaping-8800.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Turning the tide on juvenile THC vaping arrests\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As vaping THC becomes more popular among youth, lawmakers and health experts are making efforts to turn the tide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout El Paso, the last couple of years have seen a dramatic increase in minors facing serious criminal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":{"0":"post-111800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-el-paso","9":"tag-el-paso-headlines","10":"tag-el-paso-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}