Vape & Tobacco Shop Proximity to Wake County High Schools
Examining Vape and Tobacco Shop Proximity to Wake County High Schools and Its Influence on Teenage Usage
This is Enloe High School. I started high school at Enloe in 2019 as a freshman. I noticed at this large school that many students had access to and used vaping products in the bathroom, on class breaks, etc. Recognizing the damaging consequences of vaping and the health risks it entails, I wondered how these products were so easy to access.
Using ArcGIS and outlet data provided by the Poe Center, I evaluated the number of vaping outlets and tobacco shops close to Enloe and found surprising results.
Through this evaluation, my hope is that we can acknowledge that this is a predicament and a call for potential policy change. The amount of vaping/tobacco outlets is a problem for many high and middle schools in Wake County, allowing many students to easily obtain these harmful products.
Addressing the Issue at hand
To put this problem in perspective, I registered the passage that I would generally take to school, indicated by the blue line. Point A on the map is my house, and point B is Enloe High School.
There are multiple access points on my way to school where, if I desired, I could purchase tobacco or vape products. For teens in similar circumstances, getting these products would be a relatively easy task. I hope by the end of this story, you will have a better understanding of why vaping and tobacco use is such a problematic issue for teens and how easily accessible these harmful substances are to purchase.
Nikhil Tobacco Vape map
Observations
The small red dot represents my school, Enloe High School. The pink perimeter around my school represents a 2.5-mile radius in which there are an astonishing 86 vaping and tobacco shops (represented by the black dots). I want to emphasize the number of outlets within such a short driving distance, as many high school students have access to a car, bike, or bus.
As there are high concentrations of vaping/tobacco outlets throughout Wake County, Enloe is not the only school affected by easy access to tobacco outlets. Just by observation, there are many clusters of outlets that could be accessed by more than just students attending Enloe, but for all Wake County schools.
Significance
The proximity of these shops to school is very significant and could contribute to teen tobacco use. High school students experience stress and anxiety as they navigate through their days of homework and exams and may consider using such products as a coping mechanism.
Possible Solutions
During my research, I learned tobacco and vaping products are also sold in mini-marts and gas stations. Therefore, policies to prevent the sale of these products in both tobacco shops and typical convenience stores may be beneficial. Supporting efforts to make parks and public areas tobacco and vape-free will limit the number of places that teens and adults can use to partake in smoking or vaping. Education is also critical; teaching teens the harmful effects of vaping on the body might help place a better perspective of the longer-term consequences.
Nikhil Tobacco Vape map
Hotspot Layer
Within this map layer, we can see the high concentrations of vaping/tobacco outlets or "hotspots." Further, we can immediately see a hotspot with 95% confidence northeast, one with 100% confidence north, and one with 90% confidence northwest. These hotspots are within a 2.5-mile radius from Enloe, indicating the concise range to access these hotspots.
Evaluating the Policies
With the data from the map, we can advocate for policy reforms aimed at restricting tobacco vendors and implementing stricter regulations regarding teenage vaping and smoking. Notably, Raleigh lacks written regulations for recreational and public areas, rendering them entirely tobacco and smoke-free. This includes several nearby parks, like Lockwood and Roberts Park, in close proximity to Enloe High School. The existing policies allow teenagers to freely use smoking or tobacco products within these parks and public spaces.
This is Tobacco, Town, and Vape on 3416 Poole Road. This Tobacco/ Vape outlet is within the 2.5 mile radius of Enloe.
This vape shop is called 7 Star Tobacco, Kratom, Vape & CBD; this is on 3585 Maitlaid Drive.
This is Tobacco & Gifts on Avant Ferry. Not only is this close to Enloe, but also to my elementary school, A.B. Combs.
This is One Stop Minimart Tobacco & Vape on 717 East Martin Street within the 2.5 Mile radius from Enloe, and is walking distance from Moore Square Middle School.
High Schools in Wake County
In looking at the number of vape shops within the radius of Enloe, I wondered what it would look like for other high schools in Wake County. Is it just Enloe with a large amount of vape and tobacco outlets? Do other high schools in Wake County have this problem as well? Each green box represents a high school, and the larger the box means more vape and tobacco outlets within the 2.5-mile radius.
Results
The results shown on the right were eye-opening. The downtown Raleigh area and west to Enloe are flooded with vape and tobacco outlets, and there are many schools in the proximity as well. The schools around Enloe are also hit hard with the number of outlets in proximity. Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy has a count of points equaling 94, and Broughton High has a count of points equaling 86.
Clusters
This map features the same data but shows the clusters of vape and tobacco outlets. Each cluster will tell you how many outlets are within each area.
Reason for this?
Why are there so many vape and tobacco outlets within this certain area of Raleigh? Does this have to do with people's socioeconomic status? Does wealth play a factor in the location of these shops?
Economic Health Index
There are many different aspects to this map. We have the many black dots that represent each tobacco and vape outlet. The dark green squares represent every high school in Wake County and the count of points within each area. The new layer that is added is the economic health index which is defined by:
- This is a total of median household income
- Percent of households that receive food stamps,
- Percent of people living between 100% and 200% of poverty,
- Renter household spending over 30% of income, and
- Mortgage spending over 30% of revenue.
The red areas are in the worse of these categories, where the blue is the best.
Why is this significant?
This map layer concludes that there is a high density of tobacco and vape outlets within a particular concentration in Raleigh. It is that middle section where my school, Enloe, is located. It is also a primarily red area, where there is more economic hardship. Contrary to the blue and light yellow regions, there is a higher concentration of points within these red and orange areas. One could conclude that these tobacco merchants target people who are marginalized and where existing disparities already exist.
Vulnerability Assessment
To further emphasize the strategic placement of these tobacco and vape outlets, I added a vulnerability layer of Wake County. The red areas represent the more vulnerable, where the green the opposite. There is a hotspot feature to help illustrate the concentration of shops.
Vulnerability layer is defined by:
- % of persons living below the federal poverty rate.
- % of unemployed civilians age 16 and over in the labor force.
- % of youth under age 18 + % of adults age 65 and over.
- % of vacant housing units.
- % of adults ages 25-64 who did not earn a high school diploma or equivalent (GED).
The trends of this layer follow the economic layer. There are high concentrations in more vulnerable areas.
North of Raleigh, there is a red hotspot in a stretch of red and orange vulnerable regions. There is also a high concentration of vape shops in the Fuquay-Varina area around Fuquay-Varina High School.
See for yourself! Drag the slider to see the density of vape/tobacco outlets over the vulnerability index for Wake County!
Spoken Word Piece
Nikhil - Raleigh - Spoken Word 2022
Communities are starting to change
Below are communities in Wake County that enacted ordinances since the original publication of this story map.
Municipalities with outlet density ordinance
Conclusion
Through a comprehensive analysis of vape and tobacco outlets located within a 2.5-mile radius of each high school in Wake County, we have uncovered a noteworthy correlation between outlet density and economically disadvantaged areas. This finding emphasizes the urgent need to address the underlying causes of this issue. One potential contributing factor is the absence of a licensing requirement for the sale of tobacco and vaping products in Wake County. This regulatory gap poses a significant challenge, particularly in economically challenged regions where schools and neighborhoods are concentrated. Disturbingly, individuals aged 21 and above can freely sell these products without facing the consequences, even when selling to individuals below the legal age. To combat this issue, it is imperative to explore strategies outlined in the comprehensive report "Reducing the Density and Number of Tobacco Retailers: Policy Solutions and Legal Issues." By implementing these solutions, we can prevent the perpetuation of these disparities and safeguard the well-being of our community.
"By reducing the density and number of tobacco retailers by imposing minimum distance requirements between existing retailers, capping the number of retailers in a given geographic area, establishing a maximum number of retailers proportional to population size, and prohibiting sales at certain types of establishments, such as pharmacies, or within a certain distance of locations serving youth."
After creating this story map, I want to emphasize the problem: the density of vaping and tobacco outlets near Wake County high schools. There are more outlets in more vulnerable areas, so the conclusion could be made that merchants also target the more economically vulnerable. In addition, because merchants do not need a license to sell these products, there is a crisis regarding how easily high school students in Wake County and North Carolina can access vape and tobacco products.
