As the Federal government continues its crack down on vape sales, doctors fear it could prompt young people to switch to cigarettes instead. Smoking rates of people aged 14 to 17 rose last year for the first time in two decades and experts are worried that upward trend is set to continue.
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00:0024-year-old Luke Wallace started vaping four years ago.
00:06Just being able to pick something up, take a hit, you know, you get a bit of nicotine.
00:09It's just the convenience, really.
00:10But he's recently switched to smoking, influenced by social media posts about the long-term
00:16health risks of vaping.
00:18You really have no idea what's in those vapes, whereas cigarettes, at least you know it's
00:21bad, but you know what it is.
00:23Experts say his experience is not unique, warning vapes are becoming a gateway drug
00:28for cigarettes.
00:29There is an increased risk of young people who vape, who would then go on to take up
00:33tobacco, traditional cigarettes, and that's about a three to four times increase.
00:39New world-first laws introduced by the federal government are said to restrict sales of vapes
00:44to pharmacies, and people under 18 will only be able to access them with a prescription.
00:50But with a new Cancer Council report finding about 1,200 12- to 18-year-olds are taking
00:55up vaping each week, doctors fear the crackdown could make them turn to tobacco to satisfy
01:01their growing nicotine addiction.
01:03There may well be a group of people who are shifting back to cigarettes or are moving
01:07to cigarettes for the first time.
01:09Vaping research shows young people underestimate the associated health risks, but as anti-vaping
01:15campaigns continue to reach teenagers and young adults, there are new concerns many
01:20have lost sight of the dangers of smoking.
01:23So they haven't been exposed to as much information, perhaps as they maybe need to have been, on
01:28just how harmful and how damaging tobacco and traditional cigarettes really is.
01:33Mr Wallers says he'd feel safer using a regulated vape from a pharmacy.
01:37If the government's kind of, you know, stepping in and being like, okay, this is what we're
01:41offering, I think that's definitely a good thing.
01:43But his message to others is simple.
01:45If you haven't started, just don't, that's it.