And what flavour?
The rise and rise of vaping amongst young people
Warning: This article will discuss cigarettes and vaping.
The fresh scent of lemon and lime ignites the room. It’s flavour common but discreet; Colourful and yet exciting. The only twist – it’s not perfume, but a vape.
One of the biggest trends hitting the Gen Z zeitgeist, vaping had quickly risen to become the in thing for all young people to do.
Coming to schoolyards near you, vaping offers many opportunities for young people to communicate, explore entrepreneurial hustles and find a pleasure away from the burden of schoolwork.
The only catch – it’s killing you.
What is ‘Vaping’
Vaping isn’t new, in fact it has existed for decades. It was first patented in 1965, and was later first commercialised in 2003 by Chinese tobacco company Ruyan (now Dragonite International).
Vapes, or e-cigarettes, work as battery-operated devices that people inhale as aerosol, usually containing nicotine, flavours and other chemicals. As stated, they emulate cigarettes, cigars or pipes and often appear as USB sticks.
These devices contain either a cartridge or reservoir which holds the liquid solution. This solution varies in its amounts of nicotine, flavours and chemicals. They also contain an atomiser (heating element) and a mouthpiece for the person to inhale from.
The Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik, who invented the original 2003 version, did so to reduce the “global social problem” of smoking – which killed his father.
Ironically, Hon Lik is himself a smoker who uses both forms, and the tool has been co-opted by big tobacco companies as a gateway for people to become conventional smokers.
A collection of multi-coloured vapes | canva.com
Health Risks
Most vapes in Australia contain nicotine regardless of the packaging. The core chemical – nicotine – is a highly addictive and toxic drug that can deliver a euphoric high to its consumer.
Nicotine has been scientifically proven to cause long-term harm to the brain’s development, impact attention, learning, memory and even mood swings.
Beyond this, vapes can also contain a number of known cancer-causing agents such as:
- Formaldehyde (used in industrial glues)
- Acetone (used in nail remover)
- Acetaldehyde (used in plastics and perfumes)
- Acrolein (used in weedkiller)
- And heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead.
Consumption can cause direct health risks such as mouth irritation, persistent coughing, nausea, poisoning, burns, respiratory problems and impair brain development in adolescents.
It can also create a dependency which can in turn create long term health problems such as increased cancer risk. Whilst they don’t contain tar like conventional cigarettes do – reducing the risk of lung cancer – they can lead to the rise of ‘dual users’.
Dual users consume both regular cigarettes and vapes which can actually double the harm caused by normal cigarettes.
The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) found in the United States that in one month there were over 2,800 hospitalisations and 68 deaths linked to vaping consumption. While these are concerning statistics, more research is needed in an Australian context to understand the gravity of vaping’s harm.
Its Rise
A survey by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that over 49% of young people aged 18 to 24 in Australia have vaped at least once in their lifetime, the highest of all age groups. This doubled the previous recorded result of 26% in 2019.
Concerningly, whilst only 9.6% of young people aged 14 to 17 had vaped in 2019, this number tripled to 28% in 2023.
Current use of e‑cigarettes by age, 2016 to 2022–2023 | aihw.gov.au
Keep in mind, the study also found that young people were willing to conceal the extent of their vaping addiction – potentially indicating this figure could be much larger.
So why are so many young people vaping?
The same study found multiple reasons – however many people did it out of curiosity and wanting to experience something different. Many young people also believe that vapes are far less dangerous than cigarettes and they therefore would not impact their overall health.
Other reasons found that vaping is, as mentioned, the in thing to do and it’s not surprising why. Firstly, there is so much choice for young people. Vapes comes in different flavours – such as mango, peppermint, cola and even flavours named after pop-culture references. Secondly, this choice gives it great traction on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, where young people can create content about their favourite flavours and why, and even sell them as a side hustle.
Top 4 reasons for using e‑cigarettes among people aged 15 to 24, 2022–2023 | aihw.gov.au
Lachlan van Dyke, a young person concerned about the risks of vaping believes its packaging is the problem:
“I think vaping became so popular amongst young people due to the way it has been advertised, with tis bright, colourful and non-confrontational boxing. When compared to cigarette packaging, the vaping packaging looks friendly and ‘safe’ when compared to the packaging seen on cigarette boxes”
They are quick and accessible. Unlike cigarettes which can only be purchased at select locations, vapes join a largely online black market associated with other drugs such as weed or acid.
What do young people think?
Denzel James, an 18-year-old from Adelaide, has seen firsthand how prevalent vaping has become amongst young people:
“I’ve seen personally an increase in children and young people getting a hold of vapes. This has become a major problem across Australia as small businesses are selling them to young people.”
“I’ve seen my siblings and friends going into hospital with their lungs collapsing.”
As to why young people are using vapes, Denzel believed:
“I see young people using vapes as a mental advantage, a thing they use to relieve their stress, but also puts disadvantaged families into the pit as young people are prone to purchasing them.”
Australian Government Response
The Australian Government recently passed the Vaping Reforms Bill to the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 in May, with the goal of protecting the health of all Australians, particularly young people.
These reforms banned the sale of vapes (regardless of their nicotine content) by any retailer other than a pharmacy – making it illegal for anyone to sell vapes or vape-like products.
These laws restricted the sale further to become over the counter products at any pharmacy for those over 18 years, whilst requiring those under 18 to provide a certified prescription from their GP for medicinal use.
They also limited the concentration of nicotine to 20mg/ml, while restricting flavours to a boring mint, menthol or tobacco flavour.
These restrictions, while necessary to reduce the extreme level of vaping consumption amongst young people, inadvertently direct many young people to engage with third-party providers from dubious sources (where there is no regulation to the content in vapes).
To mitigate this, more schools and organisations are offering educational courses on the health risks associated with vaping, with shareable resources being promoted as the best way to help combat vaping in young people on a micro-level.
However one young person who used to vape argued cultural change is needed to stop vaping:
“I really think there needs to be a stronger push to show that vaping isn’t cool or rebellious - it’s just dangerous. If we can change how people see it and make it less socially acceptable, maybe fewer people will start in the first place.”
The Future
Outside of the many global challenges that face Gen Z, the rise of vaping presents an unacceptable personal risk which threatens their long-term health – whilst giving smoking a breath of new life.
Interestingly, vaping can attribute its rise mainly to its romanticisation through social media platforms, which exploit the rebellious nature in Gen Z and teenagers in general, often promoting them as ‘anti-establishment’.
This means that to end vaping requires a cultural change that sees vapes as the tools, not of rebellion, but of control by major tobacco companies seeking their next hit.