FACTS

✅ The Vape Industry made 200-million-dollar profit in NZ in 2022

✅ In 2021/22, 1 in 12 people aged 15 or older (8.3%) were daily vapers (346,000 people). This is a large increase since 2019/20 when about 1 in 30 people (3.5%) were daily vapers (144,000 people).

• Young people aged 18–24 had the highest rate of daily vaping in 2021/22 (22.9%), up from 5.0% in 2019/20.
• The majority of daily vapers aged 15 or older were either ex-smokers or current smokers. In 2021/22, 56% of daily vapers were ex-smokers, and 22% were current smokers (dual users).
• A relatively small but increasing proportion of daily vapers are people who have never been smokers. In 2021/22, 18% of daily vapers were never-smokers, up from 7% in 2017/18.
• The smoking status of daily vapers varies by age. Among daily vapers aged 25 or older, nearly all were ex-smokers (64%) or current smokers (26%).
• Among daily vapers aged 18–24, 33% were ex-smokers, 21% were current smokers (dual users), and 37% were never-smokers (based on pooled data for 2020/21 and 2021/22).
• Estimates for young people aged 15–17 are based on small numbers and should be interpreted with caution. Based on pooled data for 2020/21 and 2021/22, 1 in 14 young people aged 15–17 (6.9%) were daily vapers. Of these, 76% were never-smokers, 18% were ex-smokers, and 6% were current smokers. This age group accounted for 4% of all daily vapers.
• In all ethnic groups, about half of daily vapers were ex-smokers. The proportion of daily vapers who were also current smokers (that is, dual users) was Māori (28%), Pacific (35%), Asian (14%), and European/Other (23%). The proportion of daily vapers who were never-smokers was Māori (16%), Pacific (12%), Asian (28%) and European/Other (18%).

✅ Vapes were originally sold as a stop-smoking aid

✅ Vaping has birthed a new generation of nicotine addicts, many of whom have never smoked tobacco

✅ Candy flavours, bright colours and cartoons on the labels hook teens

✅ New regulations to control vaping came in this August, with disposable vapes being phased out

✅ The age of starting vaping is similar to that of smokers – preteen; however, some are 5 years old.

The Vaping Trap: How Big Tobacco Targets the Poor and the Young

One of the most disturbing aspects of vaping is how it disproportionately affects the poor and the young. Vape shops are often located in low-income communities, where people are more vulnerable to nicotine addiction and less able to access health care. The Labour Government is finally taking steps to reduce the number of vape shops and restrict their proximity to schools, but the problem is far from solved. A recent investigation has revealed that there are nearly 10 times more e-cigarette outlets in our poorest areas than in our richest ones. In Otahuhu, a South Auckland suburb, you can find two vape shops side by side, competing for customers in a small shopping area with six other vape shops – that should ring alarm bells!

But why do people vape in the first place? The answer lies in the clever marketing strategies of Big Tobacco, who saw the potential for big bucks when the e-cigarette was invented to help smokers quit tobacco. They could use it as a way to addict a new generation of people. Big Tobacco were already marketing experts and designed the devices to appeal to young people. They use bright colours, child-like flavours, and images of happy and fun-loving youth to lure them into vaping. They make it seem like vaping is harmless, trendy, and cool. They don’t tell them about the health risks, the addiction, or the hidden costs.

The sad truth is that many young people are unaware of the dangers of vaping, or they choose to ignore them. They are told by health professionals and government experts that vaping is safer than smoking or that it can help them quit. They don’t realise that vaping can expose them to harmful chemicals, damage their lungs, and affect their brain development. They don’t know that vaping makes them more likely to smoke cigarettes later. They don’t understand that vaping can trap them in a cycle of dependence and addiction that is hard to break.

This is why we need to educate ourselves and others about the reality of vaping. We need to challenge the myths and lies that Big Tobacco spreads. We need to protect our health and our future from the vaping trap.

The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation statistics say four will vape daily in a class of twenty fourteen-year-olds. They vape at home, on the weekends, on the way to and from school, during the day, and during break times. Alarmingly, we hear children report waking up at 2 a.m. and vaping.

Dawn Ackroyd is the Chair of the Principals Association for Secondary Schools in Hawkes Bay; she notes in the early 2000s, ¼ of 14 to 15-year-olds were regular smokers of cigarettes; now, that’s dropped to 3%.

Dawn believed we were close to eradicating smoking in schools, and now we are witnessing the opposite trend. The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation and Secondary Principals’ Association Survey found 27% of young people had vaped in the last seven days, and more and more are getting into it.

The ASH Year 10 Snapshot – which measures smoking and vaping behaviour – showed the number of school students who are vaping has jumped from 12% in 2019 to 20% in 2022.

The biggest fear is the impact of vaping on the students’ health. It took decades to determine how lethal smoking was, and vaping’s effects remain largely unknown. Although the evidence is coming through, it’s not good. Dawn asks how long have we got? In the short term, we already see students having seizures from vapes with high nicotine content. The phrase ‘Nic-Sick’ has come about from students inhaling so much nicotine that they are physically sick. Vape e-liquid is toxic to children if they swallow, inhale, or get it on their skin. Prevention is key. In an emergency, do not induce vomiting and contact the Poisons Centre.

Alarmingly, we have primary intermediate students also taking up vaping!

The number of High school students who were stood down for vaping in 2020 was 771, doubling to 1,511 in 2022 (Ministry of Education 2023).

For primary and Intermediate students (5 to 12 years old), the stand-downs for vaping in 2022 was 355, ballooning out to 1,988 in 2022.

Hook them younger, and you have a customer for decades.

Lucy Hardie (Auckland University) points to the Vape Industry deliberately targeting children through a key part of marketing sweet flavourings, colours, and cartoon characters on the packaging. Lucy says, “It’s not by accident. Get them younger and have the customer for potentially decades.”

The Government has a new initiative to ban flavour names like cotton candy, but it could be too late for some young vapers.

Case Study One – Teens’ Struggle with Peer Trends

John, an 18-year-old student, works part-time at McDonald’s, attends school “most of the time, ” and plays soccer for fun and fitness. John started vaping when he was 15, saying his friends influenced him. They were already using high-nicotine vapes, so I jumped on that. “As soon as I open my eyes, I go for my vape, ” he admits. “When I started, I went into the deep end and got hooked quickly. My first vape was quite atrocious. It didn’t taste nice at all. But that peer pressure comes into play. And you’re off doing it regularly, and you get used to it, and it ends up not hurting anymore.”

Case Study Two – Joseph’s Tale of Illegal Access and Addiction

Joseph was never a smoker. He reports about 80% of his friends are vapers. On a scale of 1 – 10, Joseph self-reports being addicted at 9. Joseph is now 17 years old and has been vaping for several years. He says he never shows his ID when he enters Vape Shops. He says he will bring it [ID] next time and is sold high-dose nicotine vapes.

Dr. Stuart Jones, a Respiratory Specialist, says we as a nation shouldn’t be putting our youth in a position where they can get their hands on this highly addictive substance. He is seeing vapers with smoking damage and inflammation on X-rays from vaping. When people start smoking as a teenager, we start seeing the respiratory effects when they get into their 40s and 50s, and it may be decades before the real outcomes of vaping are seen, too.

However, studies on mice may give a glimpse into the future, showing vapes can cause lung cancer.

Case Study Three – Lisa’s Regret: How Flavors Masked the Dangers of Vaping

Case Study Four – What you breathe can hurt you!

Jackson started vaping as a young adult. He had a history of light social smoking, but he has started vaping every day since taking up vaping. He’s been vaping for two years. He admits he has a sore throat and shortness of breath most of the time. He says he vapes because it helps him relax and cope with stress. He says he doesn’t think vaping is bad for him, compared to smoking.

But Jackson was wrong. The results were shocking when he underwent a CT scan of his lungs! The scan showed thickening in some areas of the left upper lobe bronchioles, which could indicate lung damage or disease due to vaping. The Doctor said it could have been caused by an earlier viral infection, but Jackson knew – he was listening to his body. The Doctor advised Jackson to quit vaping as soon as possible to prevent further harm to his lungs.

Jackson was scared and angry. He felt betrayed by the vaping industry, which had convinced him that vaping was safe and harmless. He felt stupid for falling for their lies and tricks. He felt guilty for risking his health and wasting money on vapes. He decided to quit vaping for good. He says it was hard at first, but he got support from his family and friends and used some nicotine patches and gum to help him. He says he feels much better now, both physically and mentally. He says he can breathe easier, has less sore throats, and has more energy and motivation. He says he is proud of himself for quitting vaping and hopes others will do the same.

Case Study Five

Matt was never a regular smoker but became a daily vaper. He started smoking at 14 years old and is now 17. He hides his vaping addiction from his family because he is embarrassed. Matt can’t quit and says he’s not sure why he started. But he remembers pinching his first vape from a drawer in his older brother’s room, and from then on, he says it was easy to get them off his friends whenever he wanted. “My friends and I started by getting into vape tricks,” he laughs. “But now I vape alone more than with other people. It feels like you are pressing pause on the day… I use it to escape the stress of whatever is going on.”

Matt is one of thousands of under-18-year-olds in New Zealand who regularly vape despite being against the law. The law states that only people aged 18 or over can buy, possess, or use vapes that contain nicotine. However, many young people can access vapes through online platforms, social media, or friends and family. Some vape shops also sell vapes to minors without checking their ID. This seriously threatens the health and well-being of our youth, who are exposed to nicotine addiction and other harmful effects of vaping.

Dr Natalie Walker is a tobacco control researcher who says more must be done to prevent young people from vaping. She says vaping should not be seen as a harmless hobby or a way to quit smoking but as a potential gateway to tobacco and other substance use. Dr Walker says that young people need more education and awareness about vaping risks and that parents and teachers need to be more vigilant and supportive of their children’s choices. She also says that the Government needs to enforce stricter regulations on vaping, such as banning flavours, limiting nicotine levels, restricting advertising, and increasing taxes. She says these measures could help reduce the appeal and availability of vapes for young people and protect them from the harms of nicotine addiction.

The Vaping Industry Association (VIANZ) – There were no messages about helping quit smoking.

Advertising vapes was banned in August 2020 – but it was clear the damage was already done!

According to Lucy Hardie, that period between 2018 and 2020 formed social norms around vaping that are now deeply embedded in youth culture; the vaping industry doesn’t have to do anything else.

For kids today who want the products, it doesn’t matter if you are underage! Research shows half of High School teens buy the vapes themselves at dairies and 1 in 5 at specialty vape shops. By law, vape store assistants are required to check anyone’s ID who looks under 25 years of age.

Recycled Marketing Tactics of Big Tobacco

Using Otago University’s Deprivation Index, the numbers were crunched using household income and the number of vape shops. The outcome was more pronounced in economically disadvantaged areas, where a higher concentration of vape shops existed. The lowest income areas had x10 the number of shops than our richest areas. According to Researcher Lucy Hardie, it’s the same strategy of targeting vulnerable people that the Alcohol, Fast Food and Big Tobacco Industries use.

Lucy says the Vaping Industry would say, ‘Oh, this is where the smokers are – that’s why we need to be there.’ Lucy would be right because that is what Big Tobacco says: “We are meeting a demand.”

VIANZ: “In order for vaping to be an effective smoking cessation tool, it needs to be available”. But as Lucy rightly points out, are they just targeting vulnerable populations, or are they there to help?

VIANZ said they welcome the Government’s initiative on disposable vapes but not flavour restrictions.

Australia made all nicotine vaping products, such as nicotine e-cigarettes, nicotine pods and liquid nicotine, a Schedule 4 (prescription only) medicines from 1 October 2021. Consumers require a prescription for all purchases of nicotine vaping products; thus, it is a cessation model. This includes purchases from Australian pharmacies and overseas. But in New Zealand, we have kept vapes on shelves to reach our Smokefree 2025 goal that fewer than 5% of New Zealanders will be smokers. This will be achieved by protecting children from tobacco marketing and promotion exposure and reducing the supply and demand for tobacco.

The Minister of Health, Dr Ayesha Verrall, said in the Sunday interview, “I am not saying vaping is safe. We think it is harmful.” However, in pursuit of the Smokefree 2025 goal, which sees the smoking rate falling by 1% yearly, the minister is prepared to tolerate the collateral damage to our youth. Stating vaping is not as harmful as tobacco smoking. When asked about the length of time it took to know the real harm of tobacco smoking, Dr Verrall was asked to comment on the long-term effects of vaping. Minister of Health Dr Verrall admitted there “is much we don’t know, but it is a justifiable position that vaping is safer than tobacco, but both have harms.” Dr Verrall was asked if she was making a trade-off to get the last person off cigarette smoking by creating a whole new generation of nicotine addicts. She denied this was a trade-off, stating, “I am really committed to our Smokefree 2025 Goal, but what we are trying to do is make sure we can achieve it, in a humane way by supporting people to quit smoking and mitigate against the rise in youth vaping.”

The Government is taking some action at last, such as phasing out cheaper disposable vapes and the number of vape shops, lowering nicotine levels and reducing the range of flavoured vapes or renaming them so they are less appealing to young children. Critics of the Government, like Lucy and Dr Jones, say the Government’s initiatives don’t go far enough! They want to see us follow Australia’s lead making vapes prescriptions only, and restrict the age to 21 years.

While the pressure is on to follow Australia’s lead in making e-cigarette prescriptions, Australia is not without problems. According to sources, there is a huge black market, and many citizens didn’t know the law had changed as vapes were freely and illegally available.

According to Lizzie Carmine, 25, a New Zealander who recently moved to Melbourne, a non-vaper herself but says nearly everyone she knows does – “and no one has a prescription”.

“The stores sell them illegally, so you can still buy them, but they have no ingredients list and aren’t promoted as containing nicotine. So, you have no idea how much nicotine you are getting.” And to make matters worse, it’s usually very high doses in unmarked vapes.

The problem is that non-nicotine vapes are still legal. With the labels peeled off and replaced, investigators have no idea whether the retailer is doing anything illegal.

What’s really in a Vape?

Animal studies have shown signs of emphysema and an increased risk of cancer from vaping. Dr. Burrowes believes that we will see the same diseases as smoking and a new vaper’s disease. She agrees with Lucy that vaping is so embedded in NZ that it will be hard to return from this epidemic.

Conclusion: Epidemic, don’t you mean pandemic?

Once perceived as a harmless smoking alternative, vaping has unveiled its true health risks. This vaping epidemic has firmly taken root, primarily affected our youth and giving rise to a fresh generation of nicotine addicts. As the Government wrestles with regulations, educating and safeguarding our youth from the clutches of the vaping trap becomes crucial. The insights from our young individuals illuminate the pressing need for comprehensive strategies to confront this emerging public health challenge stemming from Big Tobacco’s calculated tactics to dominate the nicotine addiction market through vaping.

Contact Me:

If you want to learn how to quit vaping successfully and permanently, you can contact me at [email protected]. I am a nurse educator in Smoking Cessation with over 20 years of experience helping people like you. I have developed my program, which I called, The Smokefree System: Taking Back Control, drawing from my own experiences as a smoker and insights shared by other smokers and the latest scientific research. The second edition of this program is about to be released soon. For more information and resources, you can also visit my website, challengebreaker.com. I would love to hear your story and help you achieve your quitting goals. Remember, you are not alone in this journey. You have the power to change your life for the better.

By quitting vaping, you can reclaim control of your life, improve your health, and create a brighter future. Cherish the moments of growth and self-discovery along the way and know that you are capable and deserving of a smokefree, fulfilling life. Keep going and savour the freedom that awaits you!

If you need one-to-one or group coaching, don’t hesitate to contact me; I am here to help.

[email protected]