Nancy Heredia-Villanueva recalls the day in the fall of 2021, shortly after her oldest daughter started high school, when she went to zip her open school backpack. Her daughter defensively pulled it away.
"A fight ensued, it was like a tug of war over the backpack," Villanueva says, with her daughter eventually wresting it away, then locking herself in the bathroom. Afterward, Villanueva and her husband "tore apart" the bathroom, finding four sweet-flavored vapes wedged behind the bathroom mirror.
Villanueva was shocked, wholly unaware her 14-year-old daughter had gotten hooked on vaping the year prior. She'd never seen nor smelled the fruit-flavored vapors from the brightly colored devices.
Sale of those are illegal under both federal and New Jersey state law. But her daughter and other underage friends bought them at a gas station in a town next to Dunellen, N.J., where they live. Enraged, Villanueva and another parent confronted the store's cashier. Villanueva recorded a video, and posted it to a mom's group. She says it went viral.
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