Young People Are Using Cigarettes To Quit Vapes, Threatening Decades Of Anti-Tobacco Progress

Since vapes flooded the mainstream three-ish years ago, *many* young Aussies have become addicted — or more addicted — to nicotine. When we all had our first hits we genuinely believed they were better for our lungs than smoking tobacco. It’s just water vapour, right? How good! But now addiction rates among young people have risen so much it’s started to cause an uptick in cigarette smoking rates too, after decades of dramatic declines. The number of dual users of both e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes is rising in Australia, according to Quitline. “Anecdotally, Quitline has had reports of people who successfully quit smoking, tried vaping and ended up smoking again,” a Quitline spokesperson told PEDESTRIAN.TV. “Vaping can be difficult to control. You have a finite number of cigarettes in a pack and you might have 10 to 15 drags until the cigarette is finished. Some e-cigarettes contain up to 2,400 puffs so there’s no natural stopping point.” Melbourne resident David (surname withheld) has been socially smoking cigarettes for about eight years. He started vaping early last year and said it was “a different story”. “I don’t ‘enjoy’ vaping, it kind of has a hold on me,”David told PEDESTRIAN.TV. “I feel like smoking is healthier if I had to pick from the two due to the sheer amount I vape. With cigarettes, it’s literally only when I drink or like the occasional dart in company. But with vapes, it’s all day.” Another dual user from Melbourne Dirk Peterson

“I think vaping’s harder to give up,” Peterson said. “It’s easier to separate yourself from situations where you smoke but most social situations now its acceptable to vape [even indoors]. found it really difficult to not use other people’s vapes because you don’t have to leave an environment to do it.“I felt like the oral fixation was really hard to get around, as well as the nicotine. You know how much you want a cigarette, but because vapes are so passive and constant it’s really hard to tell what you’re missing.”

Vaping is more addictive than smoking

Sinan Browne see with youth in particular that it’s a gateway to tobacco smoking,” he told PEDESTRIAN.TV.“Our research showed people who used e-cigarettes first were three-times more like to use tobacco products subsequently [and] I think it would largely come down to the dose of nicotine.A lot of e-cigarettes have higher nicotine concentration than normal cigarettes, so I’ve heard of cases of people who are trying to get off e-cigarettes by using cigarettes because they have less nicotine.”Studies have found at least six out of 10 products labelled non-nicotine in fact did contain nicotine.egardless of the nicotine format, inhaling it leads to longterm addiction that is harder to break the younger you start.“Your brain is … highly plastic at a young age and if you set those neural pathways for addiction earlier, there is definitely an increased likelihood of addiction in later life,” he said.“More people are picking it up so it has serious consequences for public health.” 

The government will crack down on vaping

who vape regularly in Victoria doubledhad never smoked cigarettes beforeDr Sarah White

“We need to understand where the current regulatory framework falls short and what action governments can take to move the dial,” federal health minister Mark Butler said on Wednesday.

have urged the Federal Government

If I’m addicted to vapes or cigarettes, what can I do?

nextThese companies are incredibly smart and they spin this lie that [vapes] help people quit smoking but that’s not the case,” he said. tobacco is the major killer so it’s not good that people are using it any amount.”“There are proven and effective nicotine replacement therapies which have evidence for them and no harm associated with them which people should use, [but] most people do quit unaided so going cold turkey does work for the majority of people.”

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