Photo: 123RF
Three months since disposable vapes were banned from shelves some schools are still grappling with students vaping and a researcher studying the long-term health effects is calling for vapes to be made prescription only.
In June the government's ban on disposable vapes and strict advertising rules kicked in, meaning specialist vape stores must keep the products hidden from outside view. Non-specialist retailers are not allowed to display the products at all.
The Vaping Industry Association supports the ban on disposable vapes but said new advertising rules could be turning ex-smokers back to cigarettes.
Checkpoint visited two vape stores and two dairies in East, West, South and Central Auckland to see whether the rules were being followed.
Of the four stores we visited all of them confirmed there were no disposable vapes available and seemed to be following the advertising rules.
Vaping 'still far too cool'
It was hoped the ban on disposable vapes would reduce vaping among young people, among whom they were widely used.
Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault Photo: Supplied
But principal of Papatoetoe High School Vaughan Couillault said staff were still regularly finding students vaping at school.
"We had a confiscation yesterday, for example, where the device was seen and taken by a teacher And I would say our story is very similar to many, many schools across the country.
"It is still an issue that we have to address. It's still far too cool for young people to pick it up."
Though the number of students caught vaping on campus has roughly halved in the last year, Couillault said students were likely still vaping outside of school hours.
The school considered installing smoke detectors, but the price was too high instead they have made sink spaces open plan to deter students from vaping.
"A lot of us have moved to a you need permission to be out in the bathroom rather than just off you go, we trust you.
"On my campus, there's a number of common toilet areas that are just open and you need a note, but there's other ones that are a little bit more difficult to observe passively and you might need a key for that."
Call for more action
Kelly Burrows is an Associate Professor at Auckland Bioengineering Institute studying the long term health effects of vaping.
Associate Professor Kelly Burrows Photo: Louise Ternouth
She said the ban and advertising changes were steps in the right direction.
But with ten percent of youth aged 15 to 17 vaping daily, according to the latest health NZ survey, more still needed to be done.
"I definitely think that people who want to vape will just move on to using those ones where you can buy a new pod and replace it.
"So, in that sense it's not really changing anything in terms of the health implications of vaping."
She would like to see New Zealand move to a prescription-only model for vapes.
"Vaping was really brought around for smoking cessation and I think there is a place for it for smoking cessation, but I think the uptake of vaping by people who didn't smoke and particularly by younger people is really the worst outcome of what vaping has brought to the world."
New advertising rules mean retailers can no longer offer rewards for purchasing vaping products, promote vaping products on social media or show photos of them online.
Jonathan Devery from the Vaping Industry Association, which represents vape retailers, said members supported the ban on disposable vapes to protect youth.
But he said the new advertising rules were causing confusion for adults who used the disposable devices to quit smoking.
Not knowing that other devices on the market, he feared that some were turning back to smoking tobacco.
"A lot of the feedback from retailers across all areas in New Zealand is that there's been an increase in tobacco purchasing and I think the main reason for that, and again we need to verify the data that comes out, is that vaping companies cannot communicate or educate consumers on what product is I guess a suitable replacement to that disposable product that they're used to."
He said people over 18 should be able to see what was available to them.
"Why not just put an ID verification system where you know you need to verify someone's ID to ensure that they are in fact over the age of 18 and are an adult."
He said they have seen a ten percent drop in nicotine vaping sales since the ban on disposable vapes and advertising restrictions were introduced.
Devery wondered how much of that ten percent has been spent on tobacco.
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