© 2025 Eddie McCarthy
Video Transcript: Young adults help Madison County crack down on selling vapes to minors
Lisa Maxwell: We see kids when school’s dismissed walking by center, vaping.
Eddie McCarthy: Meet Lisa Maxwell, a preschool teacher in Madison County for 15 years. She says vapes have become so prevalent in her community, they’re everywhere. Literally.
Maxwell: Sometimes when we come out, there’s broken vapes, like whole vapes, just all over out front of the school.
McCarthy: After a scary incident several years ago, Lisa now addresses the dangers of vaping in her classroom.
Maxwell: I actually years ago had a child who received a burn from one of their parents’ vapes. Yes. Yes. So, we try and talk about it as best as we obviously as we possibly can to address it.
McCarthy: While Lisa’s working on teaching her young students good habits, the county health department and this man, Aaron Lazzara, are using a special program to stop stores from selling vapes to underages kids. A program where young adults are on the front lines.
Aaron Lazzara: We recruit 18-20 year-olds. What they do is they’ll accompany one of our inspectors. They’ll go and try and purchase products – either a flavored vape which is illegal to sell in New York State or tobacco products.
McCarthy: The department wants stores to follow their own signs. If they don’t and sell to people under 21, penalties will be severe.
Lazzara: For those folks that do sell to underage youth, we do try and make it as uncomfortable as possible for them.
McCarthy: We told Lisa about the program.
Maxwell: I love that. I absolutely love that.
McCarthy: Safe to say she approves. Eddie McCarthy, NCC News.
WAMPSVILLE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Young adults are at the forefront of the Madison County Health Department’s battle to stop stores from selling vapes to underage kids.
“We recruit 18- to 20-year-olds to go out with our inspectors to try and purchase either vape products or tobacco products,” Madison County director of environmental health Aaron Lazzara said.
Lazzara said these controlled attempts by young adults to buy vapes, called “compliance visits,” uncover about three or four stores selling to minors every year. The penalties are significant for noncompliant businesses.
“We can fine them and continue to fine them until it becomes unsavory for their business model,” Lazzara said.
Madison resident Lisa Diehl is a huge supporter of the program.
“I love that. I absolutely love that,” Diehl said.
Diehl, who has worked as a preschool teacher for 15 years, has noticed a recent uptick in vaping.
“I know it’s very rampant in the community – we see kids when school’s dismissed walking by, vaping,” Diehl said.
When the veteran teacher found out some of her students lived with parents who vaped, she decided to incorporate lessons on the dangers of vapes into her curriculum.
“We have to talk about how kids shouldn’t be touching them, and that they’re not good for your body,” Diehl said.
Diehl had a simple message for underage kids thinking about trying to buy vapes.
“Oh gosh, absolutely don’t do it at all, whatsoever,” Diehl said.
In their most recent survey in 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 7.8% of high school students – 1.21 million kids – said they had vaped.