Remit to limit vape sale passed at local govt meeting after Kaipara District Council proposal

The Government could soon limit the retail of vapes to specialist stores after a Kaipara community took the initiative. Photo / Tania Whyte

The sale of vape products might soon be more strictly regulated after an initiative by the Dargaville community.

Local Government New Zealand's (LGNZ) member councils on Thursday have passed a remit proposed by Kaipara District Council that calls on the Government to limit the retail of vapes to specialist stores and include proximity restrictions in this year's round of amendments.

The Dargaville community at the end of last year had lodged a petition with KDC after noticing a high number of vape retailers within close proximity in Dargaville.

Māori health provider Te Hā Oranga, Northland District Health Board and the Northland branch of the Cancer Society joint efforts to advocate for the community and found there were 12 retailers selling vape products within a kilometre of Dargaville town centre.

Their petition that was presented to the council in November asked for the introduction of a bylaw to regulate the number of vape stores in the district.

KDC took the proposal to LGNZ and at their annual general meeting the remit was passed with 79 per cent support.

This remit wants LGNZ to request the Government to restrict the sale of vaping products to R18 specialist vape stores and develop proximity limits to prevent the clustering of vaping product retailers and protect young people.

"Without these measures in place, we could end up with more situations like the one in Dargaville, whose main street has 13 places where people can buy vapes.

"This includes three specialist vape stores within 150 metres of each other," Kaipara Mayor Dr Jason Smith said.

"As the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill is before select committee, now's the time to take the opportunity to future proof the health of the next generation."

Te Hā Oranga public health manager Alexa Forrest-Pain said the remit was "an amazing result" after months of work and preparation.

"Hopefully, we can now get some action into the community to protect its people."

Forrest-Pain had said in an earlier interview with the Advocate that there was a fine line between supply and saturation of retailers, and there currently was an oversupply of vaping products in the Kaipara region.

Te Hā Oranga and NDHB supported vaping products as a tool to help people quit smoking, however they wanted to protect the members of the community – particularly youth – who would not usually vape, from taking up the use of these products.

"New Zealand was late to the party passing laws regulating the sale of vape products and that's left our communities playing catch up," LGNZ president Stuart Crosby said.

"Between 2018 and 2021, daily vaping rose from 2 per cent to nearly 10 per cent amongst 14–15-year-olds. We can't afford this trend to continue."

Crosby said councils played a major role in promoting the wellbeing of their communities.

"Concerns around youth vaping is one issue mayors and councillors hear about time and time again from worried parents.

"We welcome the recent changes that include restrictions around the sale of vapes and advertising and sponsorship but vapes are still available in too many places in our communities.

"The amendments that came into effect over the past two years do not include measures that prevent retailers from being within a stone's throw of each other, or from schools for that matter," Crosby said.