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STUFF
With their bright lights, minimalist decor and loud music, vape shops have become a familiar sight across New Zealand, and now another one has opened in Christchurch.
The number of vape stores has proliferated in recent years and one health expert said not only are there too many, they “are one of the main drivers of vaping”.
School principals have described the vaping problem as “almost epidemic proportions” but Vape Vend owner Max McCabe said under 18s were not allowed in the new shop, located in The Crossing on Lichfield St.
“We’re part of the solution, not the problem,” McCabe said.
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The new store, which opened on Thursday, is McCabe’s fourth vape shop and his first in the South Island.
He thought there was “a big gap” in the market in Christchurch, “in terms of actual quality”.
KAI SCHWOERER/Stuff
“We’re very specialist, we’re a quit smoking vaping company, we don’t sell bongs or drug paraphernalia.”
McCabe suspects “the youth vaping rate is a little bit exaggerated” and says when he was 15 “everybody smoked”.
His target customers are smokers who want to quit and he claims to have helped more than 500 people transition from cigarettes to vaping, and more than 300 people give up nicotine altogether.
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Research published by Stuff in August said the percentage of year 10 students who vape daily has tripled, from 3.1% in 2019 to 9.6% in 2021.
Vaping products cannot be sold to people under the age of 18and McCabe said his staff are trained to challenge anyone they suspect might be underage.
In Christchurch, there are at least 50specialist vape retailers, although vape products are also sold at dairies, supermarkets and gas stations.
Specialist vape retailers are exempt from some restrictions that apply to general retailers. Staff can demonstrate devices and customers can try products before they purchase them.
There are 869 in New Zealand. These include:
- Auckland – 283
- Hamilton – 30
- Wellington – 26
- Dunedin – 19
- Upper and Lower Hutt – 18
- Palmerston North – 14
- Tauranga – 13
- New Plymouth – 12
- Invercargill – 10
- Napier – 9
- Queenstown – 3
- Greymouth – 1
Scott Hammond/Stuff
Dr Ben Wamamili, a research fellow in the Department of Paediatrics at University of Otago in Christchurch, said the number of vape stores was a concern.
“There are way too many vape shops,” he said.
Wamamili visited vape stores as part of his academic research and said the look and design of the stores is “very enticing” to young people.
“When you walk in, there is music, there are things glittering here and there.”
New rules around the sale of vaping and smokeless tobacco products were introduced last month but Wamamili and a team of researchers say “current vape shop regulations are unlikely to prevent teenagers from accessing vape products”.
The University of Otago study explored e-cigarette use and brand preference among 42 teenagers, aged 13 to 16, who attended outpatient appointments at Christchurch Hospital.
They found 7.1% currently vape but 33.3% had tried e-cigarettes. The most common reason for vaping was curiosity (38.5%), while 15.4% said they vape to socialise or fit in with friends.
Wamamili said vaping has “become the thing to do” for many young people.
“Most vapes contain high nicotine concentration,” he said.
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“When young people are addicted to nicotine, research has shown that they go on to either other tobacco products, in this case smoking, or use other drugs as well.”
The teenagers said their choice of brand was most heavily influenced by price (23.1%) or the flavours available (23.1%), while 15.4% said their main reason for choosing a brand was that it could be used discreetly.
The findings of the research have been published in New Zealand Medical Journal.
Last year, Christchurch principals said vaping was a growing problem.
Joe Eccleton, principal of Cashmere High School, said although difficult to quantify, there had been an “exponential rise” in students vaping in school.
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– Stuff
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