Action on Smoking and Health found 97 per cent of youth vapers had previously tried a cigarette and almost all had stopped. Photo / 123rf, File
Action on Smoking and Health found 97 per cent of youth vapers had previously tried a cigarette and almost all had stopped. Photo / 123rf, File
Opinion
OPINION
The reports have an air of familiarity.
"Vaping has become a growing problem in schools, with some pupils even illegally importing vapes from China and selling them on to their mates for a profit.
"Teachers have also spoken out about unpredictable classroom behaviour caused by high doses of nicotineor kids who are 'edgy' because they crave a vape.
"The problem has got so bad after Covid-related school lockdowns last year, that some schools are locking toilets during class time to stop students going there to vape."
If you think this is New Zealand, you're wrong. It's the Daily Mail Australia.
New Zealand regulated the sale of nicotine vaping products in 2020, meaning it's in plain sight, but across the ditch, it's near prohibition. To legally get a nicotine vape in Australia, vapers must go to a GP - taking the place of sick people - obtain a nicotine prescription and import it.
As this bureaucratic nirvana doesn't work it's being sidestepped. Even the Daily Mail says this approach has "seen an influx of black market vapes imported and sold".
The boss of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores says vaping has exploded there because of a "catastrophic failure of regulation".
"The [former] Federal Government may think it's being tough on vaping but just looking around on the streets, schools and on the internet, the government's policy is a laughing stock.
"Uber drivers are selling them as a side hustle. I've seen a lot of things in my retailing career but seeing an Uber driver advertising vapes with a neon sign on the dashboard is taking things to a new level of chaos."
Having just been there, Australia's approach is to be avoided. I'm not pretending it's perfect here. Anyone worried about illegal vape or cigarette sales should Google "smokefree complaints" and ring one of the Ministry of Health numbers. Selling to young people is an absolute no.
Yet, ASH this year found that 96.5 per cent of our sector did not sell vapes to young people. The rules are working. What's more, no one here has been hospitalised due to vaping. That's not the case in Australia where nicotine vaping is banned, unregulated and out of control.
As the ultimate goal is to convert 451,000 current Kiwi smokers to vaping, why we ask, did we have to OIA the Ministry of Health to find out our sector was 94 per cent compliant with laws involving the sale of cigarettes? Why isn't this public? Probably because it contradicts a licensing bureaucracy coming our way, despite 6000+ inspections with 44 per cent of these, covert.
If you assumed my opening was about Aotearoa, it's due to a stream of anti-vaping propaganda. Who's behind that?
We asked a couple of Auckland schools, prominent in the media about vaping. We genuinely wanted to know the scale and even brands because they're clues.
Auckland Grammar School (2615 students) had no stats about confiscations but revealed 15 students were stood down for vaping in 2021. The last was August 2021 before Covid hit. In 2020, also Covid-19 impacted, 20 were stood down while for 2022, up to March 31 at least, it was zero.
We wonder how this compares to fighting, vandalism or drugs but it won't be for smoking.
Only one student was stood down over this period, so times have changed for the better.
Macleans College (2575 students) was prominent for locking its toilets and provided stats. Between January 2020 and March of this year, almost 27 months, 16 vapes confiscated.
If these numbers mean epidemic, we'd hate to see critics' definition of pandemic.
The Cancer Society's Candace Bagnall told principals and the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation on June 30, 2020: "Australia has banned it [vaping] and they just don't have these problems." What?
Google "Australia school vaping" to see the mess.
In that same month, Bagnall added, "I've copied this email in to [name removed] our comms person ... if there is decent pick-up and, who knows, you could become an instant media star ..."
Sunny Kaushal. Photo / Jason Oxenham, File
Yes, we are seeing more vaping but it's crushing smoking.
As ASH found out, 97 per cent of youth vapers had previously tried a cigarette and almost all stopped going down that track.
This didn't stop one prominent principal writing that vaping has "surpassed the smoking in bikesheds". Perspective is needed.
Back in 1985, 31 per cent of 15-year-olds smoked daily. By 2021, it was 1.3 per cent. So, who is funding the demands we import Australia's vaping chaos?
• Sunny Kaushal is the chair of the Dairy and Business Owners' Group.
