Australia: Teenagers urge government to help them fight off vaping addiction

Theteenagers appealed to the government of Australiato impose tougher restrictions which can help them free themselves from their nicotine addiction, revealed the submissions made to a major consultation on the issue of vaping reforms.

South Australia’s commissioner for children and young people Helen Connolly made a submission to the drug regulator Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) which included comments written by around 950 teenagers between the age of 13-to-19 in a survey conducted by her office regarding vaping.

“All we have to do is go to a cheap servo…and there we can buy a vape without being asked for identification of age. There really needs to be restrictions put in place to make them not so easy to access and then the addiction would be forced to stop. I know many people, me included, would be extremely angry at first when there [sic] in the first few days without nicotine but if adults want children to stop, I truly believe it’s the only way,” a 16-year-old girl wrote.

“Stop treating kids with vaping addiction like they’re awful people because you would help an adult with one but not a child,” said a 15-year-old girl.

“Some of us aren’t doing it to look cool, some of us are genuinely struggling with addictions or are using them as coping mechanisms like a stress reliever,” mentioned a 17-year-old girl in her comments.

Connolly said that on the basis of comments made by the teenagers in the survey, the government should ban nicotine and non-nicotine vaping products from importation unless they are bound for pharmacies.

She added that the products must be tested, certified and labelled properly and should be packed in plain packaging, except for colouring agents and tobacco, which should be prohibited.

“Such a response must avoid punishing children and young people, while ensuring there is information and support available for all children, with particular support for those who may be dependent or addicted to nicotine vapes and may struggle with withdrawals,” she stated.

The TGA published around 4,000 submissions added to the vaping reform inquiry on Thursday. The Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia made a submission, which stated, “The direct comments from students read as a cri-de-coeur.”

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They quoted a 17-year-old student in the submission saying, “I’ve tried to quit and I couldn’t think straight. I had the worst ever headaches of my life and I found it to be much too difficult to quit.”

Speaking to Guardian Australia, Health Minister Mark Butlersaid, “The status quo on vaping is completely unacceptable. We know this problem has exploded over the last several years and we know the urgency to act is this year.”

A second tobacco control round table will be held by Butler in April. “Health ministers are determined to take strong action about the explosion of illegal vaping in Australia and stamp out this menace,” he said.


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