Has vaping caused more problems than it has solved?

[Bex071509]

Really random thought, but I would be interested in seeing the statistics in how helpful vaping has been.

i get that when it was first introduced it seemed like a fantastic idea & would help people stop smoking cigarettes- however, being a Mum to teens I really believe it has caused a whole new problem & one which is harder to control than smoking.

so many young people vape. I was recently on a night out & every young person around me, in the venue was vaping. I doubt as many young people would have started smoking cigarettes due to how expensive they are, the health implications are more widely known, & You can’t be as sneaky to smoke inside a venue - so could they be bothered to have to leave a venue to stand outside in the cold?

i also think it’s harder for schools to police due to the lack of smell (yes I know there is a smell, but it’s hardly as awful as a cigarette). So it seems more is going on in school toilets.

it has also opened up the ‘black market’ of disposable vapes being sold on the internet - this has also caused problems with some laced with different substances. Also, until recently, they were not sold behind tills, so I’m sure it caused an increase in shop lifting from young people.

so my question - am I being unreasonable in thinking that vaping has caused more problems than it has solved?

Absolutely. It’s a disgrace that it’s been allowed to we now have millions of young people addicted to nicotine and the waste and environmental impact too. I blame useless govt and councils. High streets full of bloody awful looking shops too.

It’s cringe.

I can’t believe people do it in public. I’d be too embarrassed.

Agree with previous poster that it is cringe. It’s like watching grown adults walk around sucking a dummy 🙈

Horrific, they should only ever have been prescription only. They are way too attractive to school kids and the black market ones can end up having spice and all sorts of dangerous things in them.

I just don't understand why they haven't been banned completely except on prescription. They should never have been allowed to take off in the way they have and why they weren't cracked down on asap when they did. Terrible, terrible government decisions being made.

The ones who are addicted to nicotine are ones who would have smoked or have gone from cigarettes to vapes
there was a lot of good info about it on a recent thread

I hadn’t thought of the environmental impact - but this is also a huge issue. I live near a corner shop- the amount of wrappers, boxes etc! Let alone the actual disposal vapes!

How can you know that? Vapes are much more child friendly than cigarettes and the age for buying cigarettes has got higher and higher. Smoking just doesn't have the cool edge that it once did anymore, plus the price is almost certainly going to be off putting to kids. How much was a disposable vape compared to a packet of cigaarettes?

Banning flavours other than tobacco would close down much of the youth market.

How has this been proven?
there are so many 18-25 year olds vaping every day, many of whom have never had a cigarette. I’m sure they must be addicted?

Honestly I don’t even have the energy for it any more as there’s been so so many threads on it with actual statistics
if I find the post I’ll link it but basically the anti vaping thing means people wrongly think that vapes are worse than cigarettes which is why people think smoking

of course teenagers will try vapes, like they did with cigarettes or alcohol or weed. I started smoking at 12. If vapes had been available I would have used them and been better off than getting a 40 a day smoking habit

https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain

Here’s the post with the stats
it’s from @PencilsInSpace who can give more correct info on vaping than I have the brainpower to

I smoked and people told me how bad it was. Then I quit smoking and people said I hadn’t really as vaping was still smoking. Then I would get popcorn lung (which is bullshit). Then how bad vaping was for me and I might as well smoke as “at least we know what’s in them”
now we are at a point where smokers believe they’re better off smoking than vaping
honestly smoking was easier

My argument for it being worse than cigarettes is that there has been a lot of health promotion against cigarettes- therefore in 2026 I doubt you would 1. Get a child who would start smoking or 2. Get a parent/adult who would turn a blind eye. Let a lone the cost of cigarettes now.

however, vapes are so hard to police. They barely smell- so kids can really get away with it & also if they can’t get legit ones, they are getting ones from the black market.

also, even if a 12 year olds did smoke- due to smell, cost etc, they would be restricted. Even if it was 20/30/40 years ago. Now, vaping can happen anywhere. School toilets/ bedrooms/ to name but a few places, meaning the vapes are being totally abused.

I smoked. Gave up 25 years ago but have frequently fallen off the wagon. The thing about smoking is that it is truly disgusting (seems obvious but easily ignored if you’re in full nicotine addiction mode) - it’s burns the inside of your mouth, stains your fingers, kills your taste buds and I could on. But vaping has none of those downsides which means there’s less incentive to give up. It’s why I’ve never vaped rather than smoked - I know it find it even harder to quit.

They massively addictive.

I didn’t realise that they were worse in that regard, until I worked with both vapers and smokers. The smokers can wait for their breaks but the vapers are all nipping back to their lockers for a nicotine hit.

They’re Targeted at kids. Sold at the prime counter space where sweets used to be prominently displayed.

Sold in pretty colours..

sold with teenage smelling/flavours

pretty lights

unicorn pictures etc etc

Now every teen to thirty year old I know is hooked.

Who benefits? Not them.

It’s a different hit of nicotine
cigarettes are like trying to to get drunk off vodka, it needs a shot and your blood alcohol is higher
vaping is like lager, you need more to get the same level of nicotine
that’s why vapers want a drag or two more often but smokers go longer between cigarettes

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense.

As someone who was thrilled to see the back of smoking and saw it dying out.

I’ve been horrified to see the grip this addiction now has on (seemingly) an entire generation.

They definitely should have been prescription only. They're only beneficial for people who were already smokers as a stepping stone to quitting. Letting vaping become a thing in it's own right was a bad move.

As a stop smoking temporary replacement they’re acceptable. Now that children are openly addicted to them it presents a very strong case to ban them completely OR make them the same price as cigarettes.

I hate them personally and it is vile how society has sleep walked into a young teen vape epidemic, addressing this head on needs to happen and fast.

This is the thing- so many young people have just started vaping. Which yes is better than smoking, but would they have started smoking at all? With the cost, the very widely known health implications & just even trying to hide it with smell/cost etc.
so I agree. With you, only beneficial for those who use them to not smoke- but it’s just gone so horribly wrong

The disposable vape market certainly increased the amount of litter in the streets around me.

It's a pathetic thing to see so many people, especially young people going round puffing on their chemical harmonicas. Every single person who does this has learned to do it in the full knowledge that even if it's not harming them in some way it's doing them absolutely no good whatsover. Humans are stupid.

Let’s also not ignore the blight on the high street of vape shops as money laundering fronts. The environmental impact is huge and the long term health implications unknown. The brazen scruffs who vape in public indoor spaces need fines handing to them too.

of course they would. My parents never smoked, I knew the health risks, I knew it didn’t smell nice and I still picked one up age 12 and tried one
my mum had a nose like a bloodhound and the amount of screaming over me smoking over the years…

ecigs are the only thing that have stopped me smoking. Ever

It’s up to the individual premises as to whether you can vape indoors. Like pubs, some allow it, some don’t.

Best practice is to have separate vaping and smoking areas as it needs to be defined that they are different and people using a vape shouldn’t be forced to be with smokers in a smoking area

I was literally thinking about this yesterday - was talking to my 13 year old who is so completely anti cigarettes as thinks they are disgusting. He also said he’ll never try a vape as god knows what long term side effects are but he has friends who have tried them . Feel like the ridiculous blueberry etc flavours are are absolutely marketed towards teens. It’s so sad.

Agree with PPs that a major problem with vaping is that there's no fixed end to it like there is a with a cigarette so some people just keep continually puffing away. A proportion of vapers don't understand or don't care that not everyone wants to breathe in their second hand vapours whereas smokers know they need to go outside away from children etc and tend to show more consideration.