General News
25 February, 2023
School Yard Vapes Trail
E-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are the scourge of the school playground. But teenagers aren’t slinking away for a sly drag behind the bike sheds, as if it's a rite of passage. They are falling prey to slick marketers whose chief aim - through...
E-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are the scourge of the school playground.
But teenagers aren’t slinking away for a sly drag behind the bike sheds, as if it's a rite of passage. They are falling prey to slick marketers whose chief aim - through brightly-coloured "vape pens" and kid-friendly flavourings - is to get them hooked early.
Under 18s are not permitted to buy vapes in Victoria. But that is hardly a deterrent when they can be bought in bulk online - and sometimes at local stores - with no ID checks. And some “enterprising” kids are taking advantage - making a tidy profit from buying and selling to their schoolmates. In today’s Horsham Times we speak with a former schoolboy vape dealer - and a teen customer of his who now can’t quit. They have yet to learn the lesson of past generations - the Baby Boomers who bore the brunt of cigarette addiction, millions of whom continue to pay with their lives.
Underage vaping is the curse of Generation Z... and nobody knows where it will take them.
What are vapes?
An e-cigarette is a small, handheld electronic device consisting of a power source (usually a battery), an atomiser, and a cartridge or tank that holds liquid.
The outlet is a straw roughly the same size as a standard cigarette, but by drawing on it, instead of inhaling smoke, the user inhales vapour created when liquid is heated inside the unit – hence the term “vaping”.
Vapes are often flavoured to resemble tobacco or sweetened like fruit or lollies.
One online retailer in Melbourne says its most popular fruity variety is Tiki Punch Sugarloaf Pineapple Strawberry, adding: “The light and fresh aroma gives off those much-needed tropical vibes, even in the depths of winter”.
What does vaping do to the human body?
The short answer is that nobody really knows – not yet.
Vapes first appeared 20 years ago, so the full range of potential ill-effects from inhaling flavoured vapour has not had time to emerge.
While it’s commonly said that switching to e-cigarettes helps smokers to break their tobacco habit, research carried out last year showed that among Australians aged 12 or above who had vaped in the past 30 days, 14 per cent had never smoked and a further 41 per cent were non-smokers.
What the law says
Under the Tobacco Amendment Act 2016, e-cigarettes are regulated in exactly the same way as traditional tobacco-based cigarettes and cigars.
They cannot be used in areas where smoking is banned, including in pubs, restaurants and outdoor cafés and at footpath tables, food fairs, and community and street festivals.
E-cigarettes cannot be displayed in shops and cannot be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
In general (apart from a few very specific exceptions), in Victoria it is against the law to sell, possess and/or use e-cigarettes that contain nicotine.
However, mislabelling is known to happen, and policing the exact composition of e-liquid is difficult, especially when significant trade occurs online.
What the health experts say
The Cancer Council Australia and the Heart Foundation Australia say the use of fruit and confectionery flavours shows that e-cigarette manufacturers and marketers are clearly pitching their product at young consumers.
The short- and long-term health impacts of vaping are still unknown.
Dangers include poisoning if the liquid is accidentally swallowed, and damage caused by inhaling chemicals (such as flavourings) that might be safe in food but are not intended to be delivered into the lungs.
Particle matter emitted by e-cigarettes is potentially harmful if inhaled passively as it can cause asthma attacks and heart disease.
Tobacco control expert Dr Michelle Jongenelis, a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change in the University of Melbourne’s School of Psychological Sciences, said the health implications were disturbing.
“Few youth are using the devices for smoking cessation purposes, so there really is no legitimate reason for teens and young people to be inhaling harmful chemicals that have a significant impact on their developing brain and health,” she said.
What measures are being taken?
At present there is little that can be done to halt the sale of vapes to children.
There is no licence required to sell vapes, and illegal trade is flourishing on the black market.
There is, understandably, growing anger over the skyrocketing habit.
Several Melbourne schools have gone so far as to install “vape detectors” in an effort to stop students vaping in toilet blocks.
Just last week Monash University weighed in, saying: “The best solution is to limit the availability of e-cigarettes to young people through the federal government introducing a ban on the import of all vaping products.”
Health bodies want urgent regulation, a majority of retailers feel they are being unfairly tarred with the vaping brush, and police are frustrated at the lack of effective legislation.
Calls for the state government to step in are growing fast.
School children in the Wimmera have been illegally buying and selling e-cigarettes to their mates in the school grounds.
One former teen vape dealer said he bought a stash of the e-cigarettes, both online and in stores, and sold them to students for $50 each.
He was pocketing $15-$25 in each sale.
“It was an awesome business and I made a sweet profit,” he said.
“I never got asked for ID at the shop, and it wasn’t until I got snitched on that the school caught me.”
James* said he first saw the disposable vapes being sold to people his age when he attended VET classes in Horsham.
“There was this other kid there and he was pulling them out of his backpack, one after another after another, and selling them,” he said.
“He let me look in his bag and there were hundreds of them in there.
“I thought ‘I could do that - I could buy them when I am in Horsham and take them back home to (small, rural town) and they would sell like crazy’ - and they did.
“Once a week I would go into the shop and Snapchat a photo of the stock list, then I’d go for a walk and come back in an hour.
“People would message me back with what they wanted and I would buy them all, plus a few extra to sell to other people, and then head home.
“I was buying them for $25 to $35, selling them for about $50.”
James’ regular customer base extended from the majority of the pupils in his school’s senior classes to include several members of the community.
After he left school, he continued selling for more than a year.
But he said he and his schoolmates weren’t aware of the health risks.
“Well, I suppose a few of us had already tried cigarettes because, you know, it’s cool,” James said.
“We knew smoking caused cancer and heart disease and all that, we saw the warnings on the packets, so when vapes came out we didn’t think of it as smoking.”
James said one of the biggest attractions to vapes was the assorted colours and flavours available.
“The top favourite flavours were Blush Ice, Banana, Strawberry Kiwi, and Strawberry Pomegranate - which was my favourite,” he said.
“Back then it was really rare to see (nicotine-less) vapes.
“We got the ‘nic-hit’ and it tasted and smelled good - one of my girlfriends even said she preferred it to whatever (body)spray I was using.”
But the danger of vapes finally came through for James - when he started coughing up blood.
“I was puking and coughing up blood, which I’ve never done from cigarettes,” he said.
“The schools are having seminars and information in the newsletters and in class now about how bad they are for you but, like smokes, some kids just don’t care.”
*not his real name