Electronic cigarettes heat a liquid to produce a vapour that people inhale, with some liquids including nicotine. Photo: AFP/ Hans Lucas
New figures revealed young adults bump up vaping statistics and Māori remain the highest overall population in New Zealand.
Findings from the annual New Zealand Health Survey show a 7.6 percent increase in vapers people aged 15-years and older in the past year.
Vapes and e-cigarettes became easily accessible from 2018 and were sold at places such as dairies and $2 dollar stores.
Hāpai Te Hauora Tobacco Control Manager Jasmine Graham said the introduction of vapes came with the wrong messaging.
"There's definitely harms in the way in which it was brought in and that's been identified," Graham said.
"There were definite loops in the previous legislation which is what the recent changes are trying to address - by tightening up on the compliance and increasing penalties to better reflect the harm that it has caused in communities."
Changes to vape legislation over the years took a punt on making it less attractive and less accessible.
However, the amount of vape users has surpassed the number of tobacco smokers with nearly half a million New Zealanders estimated to be vaping - Māori three-times more likely to vape than non-Māori.
Although, smoking trends have decreased since e-cigarettes became more accessible, and the new statistics suggest people aged 15 to 24 are more likely to skip the darts altogether and vape instead.
Some of the products at Ponsonby's Vape Room have interesting names: Heisenberg Slush, Gummi Bear, and Mean Az feature among the flavours. Photo: Tom Taylor / RNZ
"There was a lot of misinformation that was shared, and that was because the messaging was definitely intended for someone who smokes," Graham said.
"Somehow that information has gone across to different people that have taken it on as a less harmful product, which in any case when it comes to rangatahi, is just not correct."
Daily vaping and smoking among this age bracket almost doubled between the 2019/2020 and 2023/2024 brackets indicate people aren't necessarily using vapes as a substitute for smoking.
The lockdown loophole
Just days after New Zealand went into Covid-19 lockdown, a vaping company ran a promotion giving away vapes.
An email seen by RNZ showed the promotion had ended on 20 April 2020, but for three weeks their $49.99 Vype e-Pod and Cartridge (5 percent) package were free of charge, and with no delivery fee.
Several under-aged teens told RNZ they used legal identification of those over 18-years-old, often their parents or legal guardians, to purchase the device under the same name as the ID.
In the email chain, the account holders name does not match the intended receiver's name, meaning, a person who had an account with Vype didn't have to provide identification with the same name.
The company dealt with 'unprecedented demand,' and took added measures to maintain the social distancing rule in place at the time, therefore the delivery time was longer than the usual 1-3 day timeframe.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the package that required signing couldn't be, therefore the vaping product was dropped at the doorstep without verifying the identity of the buyer.
RNZ contacted Vype, which rebranded to Vuse in April 2021, who said the number of vapes sold is confidential. They did not respond to any other questions.
Vuse is owned by British American Tobacco, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, and has the single largest global share in e-cigarettes.
The newer 'ready-to-go' vape from Vuse became free for two months this year. Photo: Screenshot / Lucy Hardie
It had a promotion from October to the beginning of December giving out their newer devices. Its Black Friday sale added four free vapes with a purchase of $70.
The total amount of vapers have increased by more than two hundred percent since 2020.
Rangatahi know where to go
Graham said rangatahi are open to sharing how they access vapes, and have revealed the many gaps.
Often it's an older sibling, or an older person they know they can sneak a puff off, but there are also rangatahi who know where to go to purchase one, she said.
"That's a real issue when we have retailers who are well known within the community as to who will provide these products to our young people."
Dave Letele speaking at the Auckland smokefree rally. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
"I think it also just highlights areas in which we need to be focusing as well as being able to get that information and making that accessible to community to know and understand the harms."
She said the community needs to listen to the voices of young people.
"When we're talking about policies that are going to impact our rangatahi, they need to be in the conversations. That's a big push for us to be able to invite them into these spaces and allow those conversations to happen. The next step for it is for us to then listen, right? Like being able to hear what our rangatahi are experiencing."
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