Region 11 prevention coordinator warns fentanyl and other drugs are appearing in vapes, urges local prevention and enforcement

Danielle Rodriguez, Region 11 compliance coordinator with PRC11, told the Laredo Public Health Coalition that vaping devices are not only attracting youth through flavor and design but are also being used to deliver illicit substances including fentanyl.

"The trend now is they're smoking it. Everything is being smoked," Rodriguez said in a detailed presentation on vaping and drug trends. She described how colorful, pocket-sized devices and flavors draw young people, noted an uptick in female youth vaping and said vendors and underground sellers have adapted product names and packaging to appeal to users.

Rodriguez outlined several concerns and local responses. She said certain adulterants and nontraditional substances — including kratom and synthetic compounds — have turned up in vaping products and that some jurisdictions have used local ordinances to restrict sales near schools and daycare facilities. She cited Brownsville's ordinance approach as an example used during inspections and said Corpus Christi and other cities have adopted different distance standards for tobacco and electronic-cigarette retailers.

On enforcement, Rodriguez described how coordinated operations and "control buys" — where underage decoys attempt purchases and law enforcement documents noncompliance — are used to generate enforcement referrals to police and the state controller. She added that vendor lawsuits have delayed parts of a statewide marketing restriction that would remove certain youth-oriented imagery from tobacco-product marketing; "it's on hold because the vendors are suing the state," she said, urging local education and inspection work in the interim.

Rodriguez also discussed the limits of workplace and pre-employment drug screening for vaping substances and noted that many CBD- and vape-focused retailers show high rates of noncompliance with content and labeling rules, which complicates enforcement. She recommended continued prevention work in schools, community education, collaboration with law enforcement and local ordinance review to reduce youth access.

Coalition members asked procedural questions about inspections and resources; Rodriguez said PRC11 can provide fact sheets and model language for ordinances and suggested coalition partners study ordinances used in neighboring jurisdictions. The presentation closed with a call for shared prevention messaging and better local coordination between public health, schools and law enforcement.