School children want vapes to be harder to buy, less
prolific and more expensive.
Feedback from vaping
education workshops, run by the Asthma and Respiratory
Foundation NZ, offers insight into how students want the
youth vaping epidemic addressed.
Common responses
include stopping the sale of vapes in dairies, petrol
stations and supermarkets, banning shop displays, raising
the price of vapes, having a prescription-only model, and
plain packaging.
Foundation Māori Community Liaison
Ms Sharon Pihema says most of the solutions offered by
students echoed calls from the Foundation to the Government
to address this evolving problem.
“Rangatahi are being
exposed to vapes at a rapid rate – and the age of exposure
is getting younger and younger.
“For most of the
children I educate in schools, vapes are part of their life
– either at home or at school,” she says.
“It’s more
surprising to hear that a student hasn’t tried vaping,
than it is to hear they have.”
Students also believe
the vaping industry is deliberating targeting teenagers and
children, and they want to see more action from the
Government.
The Foundation’s two vaping educators
have conducted 150 vaping education workshops across the
motu – with another 160 workshops planned for the remainder
of the year.
Foundation Chief Executive Ms Letitia
Harding says the workshops are a way to interact with
students and hear from them as to what the realities are
when it comes to vaping.
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“The voices of our young
people are clear and compelling – they are asking for
immediate action to curb the availability and appeal of
vaping.
“The Government may not want to listen to us,
but perhaps they will listen to those who are directly
affected by this epidemic,” she says.
“Their
suggestions, such as looking at a prescription-only model
and implementing plain packaging, are practical and
necessary steps.”
The Foundation wants the Government
to halt the establishment of further Specialist Vape
Retailers (SVRs), support the Foundation’s vaping harm
education workshop programme for rangatahi, limit the
nicotine content of all vape products to 20 mg/mL, ban all
front-of-store advertising and displays of vaping products,
and re-look at the prescription
model.
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