‘We need to intervene’: landmark vaping study shows increased uptake among teenagers ahead of reforms

A new vaping study shows a rise in teens using e-cigarettes. Cancer experts say young people are ‘three times as likely to take up smoking if they vape’. Photograph: Nikolay Vinokurov/Alamy

The number of students in years 7 through to 12 who have vaped in the past month has almost quadrupled in the past five years, data from the latest Australian secondary students’ alcohol and drug survey shows.

It is the largest national survey of adolescent licit and illicit substance use in Australia, with 10,314 students surveyed throughout 2022/2023.