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As most of the vaping community would have heard by now, Australia is cracking down on vaping laws with a number of drastic changes. Their new vaping rules are designed to discourage people from taking up the habit and make it more challenging for people to access vape products.
While some of the changes make sense for making it harder for teenagers to start vaping, which has become a growing problem, the vaping community does not welcome all changes with open arms.
New Zealand has typically followed Australia’s lead with many things, but here are just a few of the many reasons why we potentially shouldn’t follow their lead concerning the new vaping laws.
Firstly, What Are the New Vaping Laws?
To decide whether Australia’s new vaping laws are a good or bad thing for vapers, we first need to know what they are. The Australian Government is proposing the following law reforms:
- Ban the importation of non-prescription vaping products (nicotine and non-nicotine)
- Minimum quality standards for vapes
- Flavour, colour, and ingredient restrictions
- Ban single-use, disposable vapes
- Pharmaceutical-style packaging
- Reducing nicotine content
Vaping Can Help People Quit Smoking
Most government officials would agree that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. According to WHO, tobacco kills more than eight million people each year, with more than seven million of those people dying as a direct result of tobacco use and 1.2 million through second-hand smoke.
Vaping may not be entirely harmless, but it’s a far safer option for people currently exposing themselves to more than 7,000 chemicals in their tobacco smoke, with around 250 known to be harmful. At least 69 of them are also known to cause cancer.
Quitting smoking can be tough, and not everyone experiences success with traditional smoking cessation tools like patches, gum, and lozenges. Nicotine-containing vape products can be a safer alternative that allows ex-smokers to transition to something less harmful before quitting nicotine altogether when they feel strong enough to do so.
Is Vaping More Affordable?
In a cost-of-living crisis that has seen many Kiwis living beyond their means, cigarettes are now unaffordable for most. However, an addiction to nicotine means that they struggle not to have them and may decide to sacrifice the necessities of life, like food, so they can continue getting what their body craves.
The average pack of 20 cigarettes now costs more than $34, and the average pack-a-day smoker might spend upwards of $250 per week to satisfy their nicotine cravings. Vaping is a far more affordable alternative.
Once you purchase your chosen device, you can spend a mere 10% of what smoking costs, saving you thousands of dollars annually. There are a number of affordable vape products on the market, like ElfBar disposable vapes and Zovoo pod kits.
If the New Zealand government were to follow Australia’s lead and put vaping out of reach, ex-smokers might find it easier to visit their local dairy and purchase a pack of cigarettes, even if it’s more detrimental to their health and puts them in significant financial strife.
Secondhand Vapour Is Safer Than Secondhand Smoke
We’ve known for a long time that it’s not just smokers that are becoming unwell from their habit. People exposed to secondhand smoke can also be at risk of smoking-related illnesses. However, current research suggests that the same risks are not present for secondhand vapour from vape products.
While it’s not recommended to smoke around children or pregnant women to be on the safe side, no health risks have been identified to date about passive vaping and its effect on bystander health.
We Have More Control Over Our Habit
Smoking is a hard habit to break. We have no control over how much nicotine we get, which means the transition from being a smoker to a non-smoker is challenging, to say the least. However, we have far more control when it comes to vaping.
While smokers might like to start with e-liquid with high nicotine content, to begin with, they can gradually work their way down to negligible amounts, eventually getting in complete control of their nicotine addiction until they no longer have one.
We Already Have Sound Vaping Laws
The New Zealand Government has already put a number of vaping laws in place to keep vapers safe. These include:
- Workplaces being able to make their own policies
- Smoke-free indoor workplaces must also be vape-free
- 18+ to buy vape products
- Vape stockists must follow safety regulations
- Vaping is banned at educational facilities
- Vape products cannot be advertised
These new rules and regulations have meant it’s already much tougher to buy vape products than when they first hit the market. Any further restrictions may make it more challenging for people considering quitting smoking to take that first step.
Let’s Forge Our Own Path
We follow Australia’s lead on many topics, but there’s no reason why vaping should be one of them. New Zealanders using vaping products to help them quit smoking should continue to be free to do so without barriers or obstacles.