Following reports of rising e-cigarette use among Minnesota teens, east metro law enforcement and county officials gathered Monday to raise public awareness of the dangers of vaping for youth.

The East Metro Crime Prevention Coalition, which includes sheriffs and prosecutors from Ramsey, Dakota and Washington counties, hosted a forum in Vadnais Heights to educate community members about products, trends and law enforcement response to vaping among youth.

"We are truly facing an epidemic in our society with vaping," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. "It's an epidemic we should all be aware of."

Representatives from organizations like the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota joined the officials to discuss the effects of nicotine on adolescents and display the various products marketed to youth.

The forum — which catered to law enforcement officials, prosecutors, teachers and other community leaders — emphasized prevention and the importance of penalties for vaping other than citations.

"None of us up here believe that we're going to solve the world's problems … with respect to increasing penalties on kids," Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said. "What we're really talking about is increasing the conversations that happen within schools."

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"What we're really talking about is increasing the conversations that happen within schools," Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said at Monday's conference on teen vaping.

According to the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey conducted by the state Department of Health, vaping and e-cigarette use increased across all age groups surveyed since 2016.

Nearly one in four high school juniors statewide reported vaping within the past 30 days, a 54% increase. The number of eighth-graders who reported vaping nearly doubled in the same time frame.

State lawmakers have responded with a bill that would raise the purchasing age of flavored and menthol tobacco products to 21. Another piece of legislation, authored by Rep. Laurie Halverson, D-Eagan, would ban flavored tobacco products altogether and increase penalties to ensure improved compliance from retailers.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said that as public health officials and legislators drive policy to prevent teens from vaping by making it harder to get the products, law enforcement has an obligation to address the issue at the community level.

"We're on the front lines, and we're able to touch children on a daily basis in our schools, in our contact with them," Fletcher said. "We're in a good position to have some impact."

Mohamed Ibrahim (mohamed.ibrahim@startribune.com) is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.