Bay of Plenty students avoiding school bathrooms due to vapers taking over

Youths are vaping at a young age in Northland. Photo / Tania Whyte

Students have become “too scared to go to the toilet” at school because vapers are taking over the bathrooms to puff on electric cigarettes.

Bay of Plenty education leaders say vaping in schools is of “high concern”, with one principal saying stronger Government regulations are needed to stop young people from accessing vapes.

The Ministry of Education says toilets should be available for safe use during school hours and consequences for vaping on school grounds depended on each school’s rules.

It comes as new vaping rules came into place this month to help reduce the number of young people taking up the habit.

As of August 1, all vaping devices sold in New Zealand must have removable or replaceable batteries as part of a crackdown on disposable vapes, there will be no new vape shops within 300 metres of schools or marae, and potentially enticing names such as “cotton candy” and “strawberry jelly donut” are prohibited.

However, a Bay of Plenty mother said there needed to be even stronger rules around vape sales and a “zero tolerance policy” towards vaping at school.

“I don’t think there is enough authority at the moment.”

The mother, who spoke to NZME under the condition of anonymity, said her daughter was “too scared to go to the toilet” at school due to students using bathrooms as a place to vape nicotine.

For example, the mother said there was an incident when her daughter was in the school bathroom and a group of girls who were vaping asked her to hide their vape after a teacher approached.

“A teacher was coming because she obviously suspected something was up. The girls asked my daughter to hide [the vape],” said the mother. She said the incident made her daughter feel scared.

She said the situation made her feel “really annoyed and frustrated” as a parent.

Another Bay of Plenty mother said her 12-year-old daughter felt “intimidated” to use school bathrooms after students vaped there during break times.

The mother, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said her daughter had told her it was “normal” for other students to vape in school bathrooms “every day”.

The mother said she was “absolutely horrified” after she witnessed a child vaping on school grounds during a school cross-country event.

Youths are vaping at a young age in Northland.

Vape-Free Kids NZ spokeswoman and mother-of-three Charyl Robinson said her youngest child refused to use the bathroom at school due to vapers.

“He bolts home and uses the loo,” she said.

Robinson said her son found students vaping in the school bathrooms to be “intimidating” and did not want to be associated by teachers with the same area vapers were occupying.

Robinson said vaping was an “addiction issue” where teenagers were “screaming out for this substance” and it was not just a case of being “cool”.

But, she said, it was unfair to place the responsibility solely on schools and it was up to the Government to resolve the issue of youth vaping with “tighter and proper regulations of the industry”.

“We feel vapes should be limited to specialist vape retailers and banned from dairies and supermarkets with proper enforcement”.

Rotorua Principals Association president Hinei Taute said vaping was of “high concern” for principals and school leaders across Rotorua and the wellbeing of every student was a priority.

Taute said stronger regulations around vaping from the Government were needed to prevent access to vapes among young people.

A Western Bay of Plenty Principals’ Association spokesperson said it was aware some schools were experiencing issues with students vaping at school.

Ministry of Education operations and integration hautū [leader] Sean Teddy said toilets should be available for safe use during school opening hours and school boards have a responsibility to provide a safe physical and emotional environment for students and the school.

“We know vaping among students is a concern for our principals,” Teddy said. “Any consequence for vaping on school property would depend on a school’s policies and procedures.”

Teddy said since May 2021, all schools, kōhanga reo, ECEs and kura must display a no-vaping notice in addition to no-smoking notices under the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Act 2020.

Ministry of Health Manatū Hauora group manager of public health policy and regulation, Jane Chambers, said the intent of the Government’s vaping law was to strike a balance between preventing the uptake of vaping among children and young people and supporting people who smoke to switch to a less harmful product.

“It is important people who smoke have an option to switch to a product that is less harmful than smoking. Vaping is not intended for non-smokers or young people.”

Chambers said there were a number of initiatives to address youth vaping, including a Manatū Hauora and Te Whatu Ora-developed health promotion programme called Protect Your Breath to encourage young people to live vape-free lives which launched on social media in early November 2022.

Manatū Hauora would review the policy settings for vaping products later this year and provide advice to ministers on changes that need to be made to better support the intent and objectives of the act, Chambers said.

“The review will consider the availability, appeal and addictiveness of vaping, smokeless tobacco and emerging products.”

Chambers said the Government continued to monitor and adjust its regulatory settings to get the intended balance right.

“The Government has acknowledged it shares concerns about increased vaping among young people and that more restrictions are needed to build on existing protections in the legislation and address this issue.

“Any changes to the law would follow usual Parliamentary processes, including consideration by a select committee.”

Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.