Maria Galaviz Flores has owned La Paloma Market on Venice Boulevard for 24 years. The Mid-City market sells chips, candy, fresh fruit and liquor, but not vapes. 

Maria and her son Jonathan Galaviz Flores, a Venice senior, were in a commercial for UNDO, an organization bringing awareness to`tobacco and vaping usage. 

UNDO is a California Department of Public Health program that aims to “undo” the damage of the tobacco industry. 

The commercial featured her shop and how she did not sell vapes because to her “no profit is worth that ugliness.” 

According to its website, UNDO said that Maria puts “people before profit.”

She said the production team came into La Paloma Market and asked if she had sold vapes. Maria said that she did not so they asked if she would be in her commercial. 

“I don’t sell vapes, because I don’t want to harm the community,” said Maria. 

She said she has received negative feedback due to her not selling vapes, but she still never sold them. 

“It’s not good for teens to smoke vapes,” she said. 

Maria said her son also agrees with her decision because “he knows it’s harmful for other teens his age.”

Jonathan said that he has been recognized by other students for the commercial. 

“I’ve seen kids smoking and vaping,” he said. “I mean it’s pretty bad, but it’s on them.”

Principal Yavonka Hairston-Truitt said that there are several severe consequences for students who are caught vaping on campus.

If they’re caught, the vape is immediately confiscated, the student’s parents are notified, and a parent meeting is implemented. During the meeting, parents, students, and administrators will come up with a safety plan to provide more supervision and support systems to the student.

In addition to this, students caught vaping will be put into a one day school suspension program that consists of four periods.

Hairston-Truitt said that the first period is a one-on-one with Dean of Students Dave Galley to “reflect on how you got here.” The second period is a conversation with School Climate Advocates and Restorative Justice teachers to help the student come up with tools to avoid peer pressure. 

The third period is a one-on-one evaluation with a psychiatric social worker to determine if the student may need further support or referrals. 

“If you are poisoning yourself, there’s something more going on,” said Hairston-Truitt. “Instead of just attacking the act, we’re trying to get to the problem too.”

Lastly, the fourth period is dedicated to time with the student’s academic counselor to review their academic progress and make sure they are meeting the A-G requirements.

Another preventative measure Venice administration and staff take to ensure a lack of vaping on campus includes Every School Safe, a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) initiative with the goal of educating students, parents, and staff on creating “a safe, healthy, welcoming, and respectful learning and working environment.”

Through the Integrated School Safety Plan, one of the six tenants of the Every School Safe blueprint, six different training modules about subjects including suicide prevention, drug abuse, and vaping will be presented to students across LAUSD.

Hairston-Truitt said that these presentations provide more in-depth information and facts that most students are not always aware of.

“For some people, it’s the first time that some students are understanding that these companies are intentionally using them as a marketing tool,” she said. “It’s kind of an ‘aha’ moment for students like ‘Hey, they’re using us.’”

Additionally, she said that administrators and staff members are trained on how to use naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, which is a medication used to “reverse opioid overdoses.”

Dean of Students Dave Galley said schools have to have safety meetings at the beginning of the year so students “can’t say they didn’t understand and they never got told anything.” 

“Having any kind of vape on campus is illegal and you can’t buy tobacco in California until you’re 21,” Galley said. 

In the commercial, Maria said “the things I want for my son, I want for this community’s children.”