Young people should be protected from taking up vaping but policies must be proportionate and reduce the appeal and addictiveness of both tobacco and vaping products.
Vaping products are ubiquitous in New Zealand, sold through a growing number of stores. To reduce youth vaping rates, they need to be harder to access, less appealing and less addictive.
In places around the world that lack restrictions to combat the problem, tobacco companies are using marketing strategies aimed at children, like displaying tobacco products at kids’ eye level.
The proposed standard would lower the nicotine content in cigarettes and cigars by 95% – a public health proposal that could prevent millions from becoming smokers in the first place.
From October 1, Australians will only be able to buy e-cigarettes containing nicotine if they have a prescription from a doctor. But there’s another evidence-based way to help more smokers quit.
E-cigarettes are unsafe for children, but some e-cig companies are using cartoons, which have been shown to appeal to youth. Should restrictions be in place, as they are for traditional cigarettes?
Vaping devices were designed as a clean way of delivering nicotine, to help people stop smoking tobacco. Now, with gummy bear flavours and celebrity endorsements, they are a serious public health problem.
Some experts believe that e-cigarettes can help people stop smoking cigarettes. But do they lead others, especially teens, to start? The question intensifies as teens take up Juul.
If South Africa’s argument in court is that marijuana causes harm, it deserves to lose. The real question it should ask is whether criminal prohibition is the effective way forward.
Countries that have successfully decreased illicit trade have typically used a combination of political will and technology. South Africa should join the pack.
Professor, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and Director, Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, University of Saskatchewan