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By Sandie Foster
Mahurangi College Gateway student
More than one-third of high school students have tried vaping and one in five regularly vapes, according to the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation.
But pinning those figures down in a local context is difficult because Mahurangi College has never surveyed students on their vaping habits.
Deputy principal Jon Blyth says that although vaping became more commonplace about eight years ago, nationally there are still poor rules and regulations around vaping.
He feels vapes shouldn’t be available to school students, who are being set up to make poor decisions.
“The marketing of vapes is aimed at the youth market, which you can see with its sponsorships, festivals, branding and flavours,” he says.
Blyth says studies in America and Australia indicate that vapes have health effects on young people, but it will be 10 years before the evidence is clear.
He says that he gets his information from ASH – Action for Smokefree NZ – and does not believe that vapes are better than cigarettes. Teens vape because the vapes are easily accessible and because it is natural for teenagers to want to take risks and try new things, he says.
Blyth estimates that half of Mahurangi College’s middle to senior students have tried vaping, but fewer are regular users.
“The worst years are Years 9 to 11.”
Blyth says that the school has vape detectors in certain areas, which notify people when someone is vaping, and he plans to get more installed.
When students are caught vaping, or with vape products, the consequences depend on how many times they have been caught and the circumstances, such as whether or not it was during class time.
Repeat offenders face the possibility of being stood down and any student caught vaping has to complete a vape education booklet, which outlines the dangers of vaping.
A Year 10 student said she started vaping because of peer pressure, which is a common reason. She had been vaping for five years and knew about the health risks, but didn’t care.
She gets her vapes from Albany with work money and spends $30 to $40 on vaping products per week.
She said vapes cost from $20 to $40, and she vapes for the “head-spins” and as stress relief. Her father also vaped and didn’t care that she vaped.
A Year 11 student said vaping helped with stress. She spent money from a part-time job to buy $20 vapes, which her brother bought on her behalf. She vaped for a year but stopped when her mother found out.
A Year 13 student started vaping when she was 16 “because it was fun”. She had been a cigarette smoker before she vaped and her mother gave her money to spend on vapes. However, she recently stopped because she realised the damage it was doing to her body, skin and health.
School counsellor Marinette Shield said the whole community needed to be involved to stop the “student vaping pandemic”.
“It can’t be left to just teachers and parents,” she said.
Shield added the issue had increased in the last two years, with students as young as 12 and 13 (in Years 7 and 8) vaping.
Her advice to students who had a vaping problem was to reach out sooner rather than later. Like any addiction, it is a mental health problem which affects a person’s ability to sleep and eat, as well as causing skin and breathing issues.
School nurse Donnah Penniall said it was hard to help students who vaped.
“There’s not a lot known specifically about the physical effects on children,” she said. “While it’s not as harmful as tobacco, it has the same level of addiction.”
Penniall said vaping affected a student’s ability to concentrate. Like any addiction, there were withdrawal symptoms, which meant students would be in class thinking more about how they needed to vape rather than focusing on their school work.
She said it was disappointing to see the problem getting worse and nicotine was one of the hardest drugs to stop taking.
“Current students are the first generation vapers so research is still new about the effects on their health.”
NRT nicotine replacement therapy is produced for adults and correct pediatric doses aren’t known.
“Quitline is not able to help and GPs have not yet been given guidelines for management of nicotine withdrawal in under 18s,” Penniall added.
The proximity of vape shops to schools is also an issue. Legally, they have to be at least 300 metres away from a school – the closest shop to Mahurangi College is 500 metres away, but many students pass it on their way to school.
A vape shop owner was approached for comment, but they said that legally they could not share information about vaping with anyone under the age of 18.
