Vaping

[themimi]

I work in a school and, like every school, vaping is rife. Parents seem to see it as a healthier alternative to smoking and are almost encouraging it. We have no guidance really on understanding it. Is it unhealthy? I don't even know how you go about getting vapes. Do you buy the vape pen and the liquid separately? Aibu to think they are as bad as smoking? Feel out of touch with the whole thing.

Certain ones are more dangerous than others, but none are healthy. Lots are unregulated so it's a gamble what they contain.

Thanks. It seems to me that they are specifically being marketed to teenagers with flavours such as 'candy'

Ds school is very clear on the fact that any e cigs will be confiscated as they would with cigarettes.

for people giving up smoking they are a useful tool and most evidence seems to suggest they are significantly safer than cigarettes. However when it comes to young people doing it to look cool there are no benefits!

Parents seem to see it as a healthier alternative to smoking and are almost encouraging it.

I used to work in treatment and used to say, "forget the substance, it's the addiction". Almost anything can be an addiction, and of course the consequences vary based on the substance. But encouraging dependence on substances isn't good regardless.

Addiction breeds addiction. Don't parents want their children to be free from dependency?

I vape. Have been for 8+ years since I quit smoking.

They’ve been proven to be better than cigarettes. However that doesn’t mean they’re ‘healthy’ per se. Just ‘healthier’ than cigs.

According to the NHS website, the passive ‘smoking’ element also isn’t really comparable to cigarettes as there’s no tobacco smoke. And the nicotine amounts are so small in vaping they’re not necessarily a danger (but ideally not to do it around pregnant women and babies).

Yeah, if you’re an ex smoker then vaping is a useful tool to quit (and this has been true for both me and my partner. Although we now have to quit the vaping!)

However, anyone who has never smoked or vaped, shouldn’t just start vaping. Far more damaging to a non smoker/vaper.

Children should absolutely not be using vapes !!

Vaper...

No, it isn't healthier than not vaping.

It is healthier than smoking, according to PHE, that is unlikely to change, not because vaping is really healthy, but because smoking tobacco is reallllllllly ridiculously dangerous to health.

We should be encouraging smokers who want to give up to use vaping as one of the available options towards not smoking OR vaping.

We should also be encouraging smokers who have no desire to give up, to use vaping instead. (I fall into the this category, I liked smoking, despite all the reasons not to but my health and my wallet did not).

We should not be encouraging children to vape, or those who do not and have not smoked, to vape, no matter what their age - however it is in the nature of teenagers to try stuff they're not supposed to do/are not yet old enough to do.

I can see why parents might suggest that vaping would be tolerable to them, if the child does not smoke as a result.

Vapes can come as pre-filled disposable units that combine battery and nicotine e-juice in a variety of flavours. These are small, reasonably cheap and available widely though I think there is an age restriction of 18 (not sure, I am 42 and these things didn't exist when I was under 16 and ciggies you had to be 16 to buy!)...

Or they can be battery powered units that take a removable refillable tank, that contains a coil which is replacable, that they fill up with juice. The juice can be bought ready made or you can mix your own - this is a faff and a half and heads towards beardy man bun territory tbh.

Theres more variations but kids are unlikely to be bothering with rebuildable coils etc.

Box mods (battery powered units for use with a tank) cost IRO 25 to 70+ quid, the one I have was 40 quid and has lasted me over a year of daily use - it is significantly cheaper than smoking for me, I have several tanks and rarely break one so the cost is the juice and the coils on a weekly basis, about £20 a fortnight if I am being lavish!

They probably are now, but originally, the sweetie/candy flavours (I vape a grape/strawberry mix, occasionally parma violets) just proved to be more popular with adults than trying to recreate tobacco flavours, because essentially... tobacco tastes fucking horrible, and people hardly ever smoked for the flavour (pipe and cigar smokers might), they smoked for the fast nicotine hit, despite the flavour.

All the cake/donut/fruit flavours will smell like 'sweeties' to someone standing near a vaper, but even vape juice without flavour is somewhat sweet anyway.

I don't really pay attention to marketing for vape flavours/types, because I have found the flavours I can vape all day and ... i am neither a teenager trying to be cool with popular brands.. nor a beardy bloke type trying to be cool with popular brands... I just want to vape not eat/smoke.

Teens are totally into vaping and it seems to be even worse that cigarette smoking was years back. When I was at school may moons ago everyone smoked and the it the became seriously frowned upon by our kids.
Now vaping is being marketed as aggressively as cigarettes were decades ago. I understand vaping for people who have been addicted to nicotine for years but now kids are being totally targeted to vape as the companies who produce this rubbish need a replacement for cigarettes.
So sad to see youngsters vaping and unfortunately we don’t know the harm it will do in the future.

I caught my son with a vape the other day, and I was fuckin' livid, lad! Pardon my language, but I think it's a disgusting habit! Not as bad as smoking but still absolutely vile! I decided to put an end to it by replacing his vape juice with hot sauce. That made him quit almost instantly

Where do you get the idea that parents are encouraging vaping?

Vaping is only “safe” if you are a smoker and it is a way of stepping down.

The punishment for possession of a vape on campus at our school is suspension of up to a week.

it’s also illegal where we live for most students to have them so repeat offenders risk being turned over to the police.

My dd daughters friend's mum buys them for her.

There was a BBC news article on this today. Maybe have a look for it.

My student children vape. I loathe it. I suspect it will turn out to be just as bad as, if not worse than, cigarettes.

I know my ds has vaped at least once. Not sure who sells it or what he buys, no sign of a refillable device anywhere. It is harder to smell on them than fags would be. Though I'm happier it's not cigarettes, at least with those they couldn't claim they aren't harmful, as many people seem to think vaping is (doing it inside, around children)

Vaping was once seen as a way of getting off the more unhealthy fags. But now it’s seen as a thing to do in itself, with Elf bars (disposable vapes) most definitely being marketed at teenagers. One elf bar = 50 fags in terms of nicotine levels. I fear that their un regulation is creating a perfect storm of health issues for the future. Even on a basic level, yeah we’ve just come out of a pandemic that affects lungs so let’s all start breathing vapes into our lungs - fucking stupid!

Health risks are still under investigation. The people who vape currently are the experimental animals.

Regardless of the health issues, vaping is clearly antisocial. Vape absolutely stinks. I'm sick of having to cross the road to get out of the cloud of foul-smelling chemical fog vapers trail behind them.

I doubt very much that vaping will turn out to be worse than smoking, given that it is meant to be 95% better than smoking.
However, I vape after having been a smoker for 40 years and it was the only thing that made me ditch the cigarettes.
Children shouldn't be vaping at all - there are zero benefits for them.

I doubt very much that vaping will turn out to be worse than smoking, given that it is meant to be 95% better than smoking.

Says who? The vape industry? And what does "95% better" mean anyway?

I work in a school and believe me, it's happening. We have had parents who vape themselves purchasing vape pens and juice for kids, because they just don't think it's a problem. In some cases they think it will deter them from smoking cigarettes or cannabis- IME this is unlikely as the same kids who are caught vaping in school are often known to smoke weed, drink etc.
We've had parents complain about vapes being confiscated because they believe they're "safe" and should therefore be allowed on school premises. We've even had a parent claim that their child "needs it for their anxiety", which we responded to by offering actual evidence-based support for anxiety and this was not taken up. There are also a number of parents who don't actively encourage it, but don't actively discourage it either and are happy to look the other way.

I have no doubt that the majority of parents would never encourage it, unfortunately a small but significant minority definitely are thought, and this makes an already challenging situation almost impossible for schools to deal with. It's the same with energy drinks, banned on the premises but we still get the odd parent who insists it's their child's right to drink a can of Monster for breakfast every day and another one at break and they don't see an issue with this.

Like breaking one leg is healthier than breaking two legs.

Public health England

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/733022/EcigarettesanevidenceupdateAreportcommissionedbyPublicHealthEnglandFINAL.pdf

You can find more info on the GOV website

Vaping has taken over, and it's not just in schools. It's everywhere. As for the health aspect, there's still a lot of debate, but there have been some cases where people have gotten sick from THC vape cartridges. And yeah, you usually buy the vape pen and the liquid separately. THC Vape Cartridges are one of the types of cartridges you can use. It's a touchy subject, and I don't blame you for feeling out of touch. It's hard to keep up with everything, especially regarding something as controversial as this.