Vaping

[ShastaTheHusky]

Okay, so I am struggling with the UK law here, My 15 year old son has been diagnosed with depression, he usually cuts & attempted to take his life a couple of times now and for some reason Vaping makes his mood more positive , is it okay to let him vape?

so is it legal to let him remain vaping?

I looked into this recently for my DD who has also taken up vaping at 15. It's not legal for them to purchase the vaping fluid that contains nicotine, or to use it. The law seems a bit less clear with respect to the nicotine free vaping fluid that you can buy.

Which is he using? Tbh, my main concern has been avoiding nicotine addiction rather than the law.

No he uses 12 mg / ml so he probably does have a nicotine addiction, i just don't want to confiscate it and then find he did / tried to take his life again :(

I guess he'll suffer withdrawal if you just take it off him (and he's not able to get hold of a replacement) which might be tough if his mental health is already wobbly. You could talk to him about whether he wants to quit vaping. If he does he could visit the GP to get some help quitting, eg nicotine patches. If he doesn't I'm not sure you're going to be able to force him to. My DD seems to be able to get her hands on replacement vapes or cigarettes pretty easily if I confiscate hers.

If he's already addicted then he could just carry on vaping for a few years and think about quitting some time in the future when he's more stable and feeling up to it. The health damage from vaping is not huge (less than 5% of the damage done from cigarettes from what I've read) so it might make sense to prioritise his mental health right now. It may also be good to keep an open relationship with him, which is hard if you're trying to tell him not to smoke and he's doing it behind your back.

Hes smoked twice before but thankfully didn't enjoy it, I bought him some Nicorette stuff but he just didn't like it. to be honest im fine with him vaping i just don't want to get into legal trouble

I've never heard of teenagers themselves being prosecuted for smoking or vaping underage. The shops who sell to him could be, or older friends he gets to purchase it for him if caught. But I don't think police walk around spotting teenagers vaping and arrest them for it.

I'm sure the reason he is less irritable is that he's getting his nicotine through vaping, so not experiencing nicotine withdrawal. Maybe up till now he's been smoking whenever he's been out / away from the home so if he wasn't allowed to smoke at home or was hiding his smoking habit then he would certainly have been irritable at home because he'd have been in withdrawal all the time. It sneaks up on you.

Re vaping, it's apparently between 95 and even 97 per cent less harmful so I wouldn't worry. He can buy the vape fluid online and taper it down to gradually wean off when he's ready. Better than smoking for certain.

okay thanks for the advice xx

Frankly, vaping is not that bad (just disappointing) - it's a lot better than smoking.
If it makes him feel better, I'd leave him to it. Having a child who cuts, or you worrying about suicide is so stressful. Let the vaping thing go, and tackle bigger problems is my advice.

Good luck, it's a battlefield out there.