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“Talk to your kids about the dangers,” Ashleigh Nowakowski told a small group of parents during presentation at Central High School. “They ‘know’ everything, but make sure what they know is actually accurate. Don’t dismiss high-risk behavior.”

Nowakowski is the executive director of the nonprofit group Your Choice to Live Inc. In addition to Wednesday’s presentation, student heard about vaping dangers during a program Thursday.

“My doctor told me he’d already seen 10-year-olds in clinics from vaping,” Nowakowski said. All ages and “all walks of life are experimenting with it.”

Vaping, which was launched with the first e-cigarette in China in 2003, now includes a wide range of devices, from flash drive devices like the better known Juul, to watches and hooded shirts with a device on the hood strings.

Vape pens for dry herbs and “dab” pens used for waxes are also popular with kids.

Vaping isn’t just for nicotine, and directions for modifications can easily be found online.

“Any substance (marijuana, meth, alcohol, etc.) can be vaped if you modify the devices,” she said. Plus, marijuana today has higher concentrations of THC than in previous decades.

The real danger is kids don’t realize the hazards, from long-term lung damage to elevated blood pressure.

More than 190 people have been hospitalized, and there have been 38 deaths so far, she said. There also have been severe burns and injuries from vaping pens exploding.

Another danger is that kids don’t know the nicotine content as devices that emit less vapor often are higher in nicotine and stronger.

“Kids who like the Juul have a hard time quitting,” she said. “A Juul pod is equal to one pack of cigarettes. Kids using them don’t realize how much they’re using. There have been kids who’ve used four in a day — that’s like four packs of cigarettes. They can look at a pack of cigarettes and see they have 10 left.”

A big danger also is flavored “juices” and disposable “carts,” or pre-filled cartridges, that can contain unknown chemicals. Federal drug guidelines will likely change, she said, “but right now the FDA only requires companies to put what’s in the bottle in juice form. They’re not required to say what’s in it once it’s heated, like formaldehyde and toxic metals. They don’t have to tell you that.”

Sharing her own story about her 17-year-old brother, who started smoking and drinking young, then got hooked on heroin but finally got clean in rehab, prompted her to want to help educate others.

She said parents should know that kids under 18 can get vaping supplies from others, going to gas stations that don’t require IDs, or even buying online with credit cards or gift cards. They can use a parent’s driver license for ID, or sometimes parents buy it themselves.

Concerns about kids becoming ill and dying drew many parents to the meeting.

“There’s definitely something to it that we don’t know yet,” said Brad Kodl of Union Grove.

Seeing the dozens of different vaping devices Nowakowski put on display was an eye-opener for Sandi Bronson of Union Grove. She was surprised, ‘”how many devices are out there, like a watch. I didn’t know that.”

As a teacher, Carrie Veium of Salem Lakes said she came to the meeting to learn more.

“I’m not surprised, but when I hear it’s happening in middle school, that shocks me,” she said. “It saddens me to see kids getting in trouble for vaping on the bus.”