Youth Vaping

All young people deserve to grow up in safe environments that are not saturated with the presence of harmful substances, such as alcohol, tobacco and vape products. There is growing concern by whānau, schools and community organisations in Tāmaki Makaurau around the current number of vape outlets and the significant increase in youth vaping. Data from the Ministry of Education shows that 1221 primary and secondary school students were stood down for vaping or smoking in 2023 compared to 327 in 2020.

CAYAD Tāmaki Makaurau has provided support to both Auckland Council and community organisations to respond to a growing crisis regarding youth vaping.

A Council Response

“Communities are just really demanding action from council.”

Councillor Josephine Bartley

Councillor Josephine Bartley reached out to CAYAD Tāmaki Makaurau to support with the development of a Notice of Motion (NoM) to be brought to Auckland Council’s Regulatory and Community Safety Committee in response to growing rates of youth vaping. The NoM proposed restrictions to reduce the visibility of products in specialist vape retailers from outside of the building.

CAYAD produced a literature review to inform the NoM that outlined the factors influencing youth vaping and summarised evidence-based public policy approaches for reducing youth vaping related harm. CAYAD also sought and presented statements from key community and public health organisations around their observations of harms associated with youth vaping and the actions they proposed to mitigate such harm in Tāmaki Makaurau.

The result was a unanimous vote in favour of the NoM which requested Auckland Council staff to draft or amend a bylaw to ban vape products from being displayed at the front of vape stores. The Auckland Council policy team are currently working on some advice in response to the NoM.

The NoM was praised in the media and from organisations that supported a change to the relevant bylaws. The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand, who initially presented on these concerning trends to the Regulatory and Community Safety Committee, said that the NoM was “a positive step towards curbing a youth vaping epidemic.”

A Community Response

The Village Collective is a community organization based in South Auckland that works with Pasifika youth to equip them with the knowledge and resources they need for better-informed, well-being and sexual health decisions. They have a strong focus on supporting takatāpui young people.

CAYAD have been working on building a relationship with the Village Collective and undertook some opportunities to meet with them and share our mahi. Through networking and connecting, they reached out to CAYAD for guidance around how to better support and respond to vaping for their young people. CAYAD also worked with them through another project Pou Pasifika and will continue to explore opportunities of collaboration.

The Village Collective wanted to take some action to respond to concerns about the number of rangatahi that they supported who were vaping. CAYAD coordinated services Curative and Odyssey to lead a session about the harms of alcohol and drugs and specifically vaping to a group of rangatahi leaders held within the Village Collective.

The purpose of the session was to help inform the rangatahi about what addiction is and exploring some of the things they hear about vaping. This mahi was to prepare the students for a health promotion project they were currently working on, creating an awareness-raising campaign (an Instagram reel, a Tiktok video, a poster, etc…) to share evidence-based information about vaping. These projects will be evaluated by the project lead, and CAYAD, Curative and Odyssey have been invited to also judge and mark rangatahi on the content.

After Odyssey shared their kōrero around addiction and harm reduction, Curative were able to share about their kaupapa called Protect your Breath[1] – a co-design approach with rangatahi across the motu in dealing with vaping and the impacts on the body. The students were then encouraged to have conversations about how all the information they received will inform their projects. Students left the session feeling supported, informed, motivated, and prepared for their health promotion task ahead.

One of the facilitators brought in by CAYAD for the session shared their feedback afterwards:

“Fa'afetai lava mo le avanoa, thank you for the opportunity for the work of Protect Your Breath to enter in that beautiful space you & Jaz & the wider team have created. 

Special thanks to Mike for hustling us together & Carly for your shared knowledge & your story you generously shared. Thank you Village Collective for the food too”