Shedding light on vaping issues

Sharon Pihema, the Māori community liaison officer for Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ, held workshops at Gisborne Boys’ High School this week to teach students about the impacts of vaping, Picture by Liam Clayton

Workshops aim to help students make more informed decisions 

Youth vaping is at the forefront of the minds at Gisborne Boys’ High School after Te Hā Ora Asthma and Respiratory Foundation held workshops with Year 9 and 10 students this week.

Deputy principal Graeme Newlands got in touch with  the foundation’s Māori community liaison officer Sharon Pihema, who is based in Gisborne. She wants to help educate people about the issues of vaping.

Mr Newlands, who is also in charge of wellbeing and student support at the school, contacted Ms Pihema because the school is experiencing issues with students vaping.

“We are seeing it in the school and more of our boys are bringing vapes to school,” Mr Newlands said.

The school maintains a hard line on vaping at school and treats it as an illegal act, he said.

“We make sure to give the students support when they return after being stood down for vaping in and around school.

“We also try to find out where they are coming from and the effects on the students.

“They all know it’s bad for them, but they still feel the need to do it.

“A lot of it is teenage boys and just wanting to try things. But with vaping it seems they have a lot more access to it.

“We are really throwing a bit of resource at it but there is still work to do.

“The boys know the consequences but for them to make better decisions is our goal. We want them to have all the information so they can make the right decisions.”

Bringing in outside voices who are experienced with vapes helps to educate the boys, Mr Newlands said.

The students at Thursday’s workshop were all Year 9 and the information being shared with them aims to  help them make better decisions.

Te Rana Wharehinga said he learned how different types of the product are made to attract kids and for teenagers to use them.

Sean Haskins said he was shocked to learn how many flavours there were.

“I knew there were lots, but not over 20,000. We don’t need that much. We probably only need a couple,” he said.

Oliver Tilghman said students were vaping in locker rooms and toilet blocks so the school had to instal vape detectors.

“I also didn’t know they can explode, especially with people trying to recharge the disposable ones,” he said.

“Don’t do it,” were their words of advice for anyone thinking about trying a vape.

In Sharon Pihema’s role, she is available to come into schools across the region and talk and work with students about vaping. She also offers to be involved in hui with parents and whānau. She tries to help wherever she can.

“The students really do listen. I think they already have a lot of knowledge around vaping but I can show them some good evidence-based information that’s not just from social media or word of mouth so they get the right information for their decision-making.

“Vaping is so normalised and visible now. Many students walk past stores selling vapes everyday.”

Many dairies across the region have built small shops inside their properties to sell vapes. These are called specialist vape retailers and sell the flavoured vapes.

Along with that, dairies are general vape retailers which means they sell only menthol, mint and tobacco flavours.

Within walking distance of GBHS are four shops that are both general vape retailers and  specialist vape retailers.

In all, there are 29 specialist vape stores in Gisborne.

Along with the dairies, there are shops that sell only vape products. In some areas like Riverdale and Elgin, one vape shop could be a couple of doors down, or even next door, to a dairy that has set up its own vape store inside.

“We need to keep vaping for what it was intended for, for people who want to stop smoking cigarettes,” said Ms Pihema. “We don’t need 20,000 flavours and 11,000 different products being sold to our young people.

“If we can encourage young people to not take it up, then that is the goal. We are hearing about teenagers, trying to quit vapes and with a nicotine addiction, asking for help. But there are no youth-focused “stop vaping”  or “stop smoking” services, she said.

“These are our babies with a nicotine addiction. We have watched our parents and grandparents try and now this is what we are dealing with.”

A national petition created by VapefreekidsNZ to restrict vaping  collected more than 12,000 signatures and was delivered to Parliament on Wednesday. The petition calls for a ban on the sale of vaping products in non-vape store premises such as dairies, supermarkets and service stations, and calls for the Government to tighten up regulations on specialist vape retailers.

The petition has been endorsed by national Māori public health organisation Hāpai Te Hauora and Aukati Tupeka Aotearoa, a national network of public health experts. The petition was received on the steps of Parliament by MP Tracey McLellan, chairperson of the Parliamentary health select committee.