In August of 2023, new legislation will be put into place that prohibits the sale of vaping products within 300 meters of schools or marae.
This change follows the upward trajectory of growth in the number of specialist vaping retailers (SVR), with the Vaping Retail Authority issuing over 1,200 approvals for new specialist vape retailers in March 2023 since August 2021.
Rose, Witt and Professor Hoek illustrate the implausibility of these new measures having any significant effect on the number of youth vapers, the majority of which are of Māori and Pasifika descent, as the new act does not impact existing SVR’s, nor does it address the density of these outlets.
The 2021/2022 NZ Health Survey reports young people between the ages of 18 – 24 with the highest rate of daily vaping.
It reports also the number of daily vapers increasing from 1 in 30, during the 2019/2020 period to 1 in 12, in the 2021/2022 period.
A bleak outlook is provided in the current state of there being more SVR’s than there are pharmacies in most given areas.
To create a meaningful and sustainable impact on the rising number of young people participating in vaping, the article recommends; tightening of current practices that do not align with the Vaping Act’s intentions, such as the store-within-a-store outlets, addressing existing SVR’s operating within a schools radius,’ the density limits of SVR’s, and the inclusion of communities in SVR approval processes and policies.
Renowned health research and co-author, Professor Janet Hoek speaks on the importance of curbing the increase of youth and vaping.
“I have worked in smokefree research for quite a long time and I’ve always been interested in the way that tobacco companies have targeted young people.”
“When vaping products were first introduced they were sold as tools that would potentially help people who smoked for many years and had been unable to quit and had been unable to quit using approved treatments, and yet the marketing of them has been completely inconsistent for that claim.”
“Instead of targeting people that smoked and who could reduce the harm that they face by switching to vaping, I think that companies have aggressively targeted young people and as health researchers we’ve got a responsibility to point that out.”
The article affirms that the new measures due to take place are insufficient in protecting young people from the implications of vaping and the promotion of its cessation.