Regulating Vapes: Preventing a New Generation of Nicotine Addiction

Addiction Economy Thought for Today - next week is the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and we are prepping for our recommendations. And here just now pops into our inbox the latest vape from Kurzgesagt, 'in a nutshell' a fantastic German organisation who aim to "spark curiosity in people about science, humanity and our future on the planet – and the universe we all inhabit. We are fascinated by the world that surrounds us and want to spread our enthusiasm through our work."

Don't be misled by the cartoon style, their work is seriously researched and references appear on the side of the vid, for adults and young people of any age. We will be adding it to all our info.

Do share with anyone who you think might be interested. It's great - particularly for young people who might be vaping. They go through exactly what smoking and vaping do and how they affect you. Nuanced, but clear.

Their conclusion is what Joe Woof and I have been saying for a couple of years:

'Vaping has already hooked the younger generations to nicotine and that is really bad news. It's kind of unfair to expect young people to resist vaping by providing information about how bad it is or might be. Scaring people straight is a bad strategy. If you are addicted to nicotine you use it to fight stress. And if you stress someone out by telling them that the thing they use to fight stress is bad, they do the thing, to fight the stress you are causing them.

Basically, humans developed a new way to make one of the most addictive substances, that was on the decline, attractive to millions of teens by making it taste like bubblegum. Vaping is still very new - and we still have a chance to curb this new global addiction before it gets out of control."

Regulate it, in other words. Our recommendations tomorrow on why they should be phased out alongside cigarettes and vapes should not be allowed to be a new recreational product like cigarettes or alcohol.