New Zealand's youth vaping crisis clouds smoke-free future - W&R News скачать в хорошем качестве

New Zealand's youth vaping crisis clouds smoke-free future - W&R News

"It got more accessible for me, so I got addicted. Everyone around me was vaping at the time." Coco, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was 12 when she vaped for the first time. She's now 15 and trying to quit. "She was angry," she said, as she smiled at her mother sitting nearby. "My phone was taken away from me." Coco had never brought the vapes home, but as she grew more used to the habit, she also wanted to vape after school. "What attracted me to it was more the flavours like 'Peach ice' or 'Lychee-grape'. You can find vapes inspired by video games, they come in bright colours and flavours like bubble gum and candy floss," she said. It's illegal to sell vapes to under 18s in New Zealand, but Coco said that never stopped her or her friends. "The older kids sell to the younger kids and lots of shops don't check IDs," she said. "You can just walk in there and say 'I want strawberry, raspberry, watermelon' and they'll sell it to you. You can even go in your uniform and they just don't say anything," she added. New Zealand is on target to becoming smoke-free by 2025. This means being cigarette and tobacco free and that's where vaping comes in. For long-term adult smokers, it's seen as a less harmful alternative but the flipside to that is the exponential rise and accessibility of vaping to teenagers and at times younger children. #newzealand #newzealandnews #vape #vaping #child #children #future