The Ministry of Health is encouraging Kiwis to have their say and provide feedback on draft vaping regulations through an online consultation.

An amendment to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 that began on November 11, 2020 means vaping products are now controlled in a similar way to tobacco products.

“However, new regulations are required to fully deliver the changes sought by the government and to support the right settings for the legislation,” Ministry of Health group manager Jane Chambers said.

A meeting held a little over a year ago in Wanaka to help parents of teens understand the local alcohol, drug and party scene indicated vaping was present among teenagers. 

Mount Aspiring College (MAC) former assistant principal Simon Nyhoff told the parents gathered that vaping was “one of the biggest problems we have at school”.

The issue was dealt with “quite often” and students sometimes vaped on the schoolbus or in class, he said. Other kids, he said, had “had a guts-full of it”.

The uptake in vaping among young people is not unique to Wanaka: A study by the Health Promotion Agency released in 2020 indicated eight per cent of 14 and 15-year-olds vaped at least monthly in 2018, up from three per cent in 2014. 

Another recent New Zealand survey - Youth19 in the Youth2000 series - which looked at vaping in secondary school students of all ages, found that two-thirds of secondary students (65 per cent) had tried vaping.

Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ (ARFNZ) chief executive Letitia Harding said data highlighted that vaping “seems to appeal to a wider range of young people than traditional smoking”.

She said regulations were essential, given the upward trend of vaping, or “we will have a whole new generational problem of nicotine-addicted young people”.

New MAC principal Nicola Jacobsen said for the New Zealand government’s goal for the country to be smokefree by 2025 to be achieved, it made sense for vaping regulations to be in line with other smoking-related products.

She said the school “stands firm in that it is a smokefree environment, and there is to be no smoking or vaping at school”. 

Nicola told the Wanaka App because she was new to MAC she could not comment on whether or not vaping was an ongoing challenge, but “... I do know that teenagers will challenge rules and expectations as a part of their growth and development,” she said.

The consultation on vaping regulations closes on March 15, and covers a range of areas including the display of vaping products in retail stores and websites; the use of harm reduction statements in retail stores and websites; the display of R18 notices at vaping points of sale; and packaging requirements for vaping products.

Jane encouraged members of the public to take part.

“This consultation is an important step towards better supporting smokers to switch to regulated products that are less harmful than smoking and to protect children, young people and non-smokers from the risks associated with vaping and smokeless tobacco products,” she said.

Read about the draft regulations and provide feedback here.

PHOTO: Supplied