Elmira, NY (WENY) Man 2 Man and the Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Coalition collaborated in an effort to shed light on the dangers of smoking. This comes as vaping related deaths continue to rise.

Vaping and the transition from cigarettes to e-cigarettes was a key topic in Thursday's discussion. The panel also touched on the rich history of smoking and particularly in the African American community. A number of questions were asked including how local school districts are handling smoking and simply how much vape starter pack was.

The S.T.T.A.C. and Man 2 Man teamed up for for "Vaping: When history Repeats Itself." The forum features a presentation from Corning High School students and a 4 person & moderate panel. It grew out of a response to the dangers of vaping.

“It really came from the community. They wanted to learn more about vaping. They wanted to learn more about the targeted menthol adverting.” said Sarah Robbins, with STTAC.

Robbins said talks like these and giving real time statistics to the public are critical. According to numbers that were presented, kids 18 and under are 5 times more likely to vape than people 25 and over. One panelist, Herb Smith, said a state law change isn't enough.

“We need to target the industry. Put more focus on making them do something instead of us just raising ages.” said Caranell Parks, the secretary for Man 2 Man.

Smith and the other panelists also took questions from the community. Questions from community member included a number of topics like the price of a starter vape pack and what schools around the area are doing to limit smoking.

“It really is empowering and giving people the platform to ask questions. To asked Dr. Gardner what they're doing at Arnot what they doing to curb the vaping epidemic.” said Robbins.

“It's worse than tobacco and smoking cigarettes and they're being attacked with the flavors.” said Parks.

The hope is that forums like these can raise awareness and put a stop to the deadly trend.

New York state is expected to raise the purchasing age of tobacco products to 21. It will make New York the 8th state to raise the age.