Hapai Te Hauora shares the growing concerns of youth vaping that is on the rise following the announcement by Australia’s Minister of Health to making all vaping products prescription only.

Whilst the announcement in Australia reflects a strategy of ‘hard-ball public health’, Hapai Te Hauora Interim CEO Jason Alexander says that Aotearoa’s decisions must always have Te Tiriti at the forefront, "These approaches, if applied here in Aotearoa, would need careful consideration to ensure all policy levers have an equity focus".

Māori, Pacific and other underserved groups, for generations have suffered the most harm from tobacco and this is reflected by the high smoking prevalence. National Tobacco Control Advocacy Service Team Lead, Leitu Tufuga states "We can’t talk about vaping in isolation of tobacco harm. We recognize that vaping can be a useful tool to help whānau shift them along their quit journey.

"However, we are now grappling with a surge of rangatahi vaping who are not using vape products as quit tool. It is a worrying trap shared across the motu from rangatahi Māori, whānau, parents, sports, faith based and school communities". Continues Tufuga

Evidence shows that social, economic and health-system factors mean Māori are less likely to have adequate access to prescription medicines (1). Rangatahi Māori need protecting, to prevent a tsunami of future nicotine addiction and harm from tobacco products, and so strong regulations on vaping are essential.

Alexander says "The gold standard for harm minimisation tools like vaping would be that they be available primarily in therapeutic settings. However, the reality for whānau Māori is that cigarettes are more accessible than doctors' appointments - which speaks to fundamental flaws in our health system that would need to be rectified before Aotearoa pursued this avenue".

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