Growing calls to support young people quitting vapes
Vapes -- or e-cigarettes -- will be banned in Australia in just a couple of weeks. From January - single-use vapes will be outlawed and the refillable, non-therapeutic ones will be banned from march next year. But with one-in-six young people between 15 and 17 using vapes, youth workers are concerned about the withdrawal effects the outright ban may have on teenagers addicted to vaping. Zena Burgess from the Australian Psychological Society wants to see support for those giving up.
Transcript
00:00 It's incredibly common for young people to use vapes regularly or just socially, and
00:07 it's an addictive drug.
00:09 So we're really keen to see intervention to reduce the number of young people who are
00:13 addicted or who could be addicted to vapes.
00:16 And you can see the years that it's taken to undo the effects and the social acceptability
00:21 of smoking, and now we're going to go on that same journey, I hope, with vaping.
00:26 I think that young people are going to find it hard without support and psychological
00:31 support to stop vaping.
00:34 It is an addictive use of a substance, and it's associated with social situations and
00:41 particular activities.
00:43 So it's hard to give up an addiction, and they'll need support to do so.
00:48 And we're really keen to see that support, particularly delivered through parents and
00:53 teachers and psychologists at the school level, which is where many children start their experience
01:01 of talking about, experimenting with vaping with their school friends.
01:07 So we're really keen to start working with helping young people develop plans, manage
01:12 their triggers, and start to have a bit of a way to move forward with getting rid of
01:18 this addiction, knowing that they will relapse.
01:20 It's not straightforward at all to give up an addictive substance.
01:24 Helping your teenager and their friends, if they do it in a group, develop a quit plan
01:29 so they can support each other, talking to them about the kinds of situations, whether
01:33 they're social, whether they're timing situations, or whether it's people where they're most
01:38 likely to be vaping, and starting to develop micro changes of habits that will reduce the
01:44 effect of this drug on them.
01:47 They'll need social support, quite a lot of social support to get through this, because
01:51 it's been seen as a very socially desirable activity.
01:56 And working through stress and anxiety that comes from these kinds of changes.
02:01 So they'll need some assistance with managing stress, and maybe even the side effects of
02:07 feeling insecure or depressed as they start to withdraw.
02:11 I think there are some people that online services absolutely resonate with, but there
02:16 are others that need face-to-face or other services as well.
02:21 Certainly for awareness raising, it'll give some resources, but I haven't seen the program,
02:26 but usually it's a multi-pronged approach which is most successful.
02:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]