As vaping gains popularity among young people, schools are attempting to find a way to manage vaping in schools. This article summarises what vaping is, why it is a problem, and the steps schools can take to address it.

What Is Vaping?

Vaping, or juuling, refers to the use of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes, or vapes, are devices that contain liquid-filled cartridges (which can contain nicotine and other chemicals). A battery-powered heating device heats up the cartridge converting the liquid into a vapour which is inhaled through a mouthpiece.  

The popularity of e-cigarettes has largely arisen from their ready availability, low-cost, and the questionable belief that they are safer than traditional cigarettes.

Why Is Vaping a Problem?

While time and research will provide further clarity, a recent study in the Medical Journal of Australia indicates that vaping can have harmful effects on health, especially for children and young people. The study, which analyses data relating to the health effects of vaping from around the world, reveals that there is evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes have adverse health outcomes ranging from lesser effects, such as nausea and dizziness, to poisoning and addiction.

Some of these negative health outcomes were observed recently in Melbourne where two students were sent to hospital after suffering a severe reaction to the cocktail of chemicals found in vapes. While the composition of each individual e-cigarette may vary, some of the ingredients alleged to have been found in vapes include acrolein (which are known cancer-causing agents), heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead (that can cause acute and chronic toxic effects on body organs) and various flavourings (that have been linked to lung disease).

Another chemical sometimes found in vapes is nicotine. In addition to being harmful, particularly for children, it is also highly addictive. Interestingly, e-cigarettes have been identified as an aid to help smokers overcome their addiction to traditional cigarettes (the findings from the Medical Journal study actually cast some doubt on the efficacy of nicotine e-cigarettes as smoking cessation aids, although more research is required). However, for non-smokers, e-cigarettes may actually have the opposite effect. The study observed that young non-smokers who use vapes “are about three times as likely as non-users to start smoking tobacco and to become regular smokers”, adding further to the health concerns for these e-cigarette users.

Another issue surrounding vaping is the current legal position in Australia. Essentially, e-cigarettes containing nicotine are only available to adult Australians with a prescription, however, in some jurisdictions, it is still legal to purchase e-cigarettes without a prescription that do not contain nicotine.

It appears that these laws are not operating as intended. In particular, the difficulty in ascertaining whether a vape contains nicotine or not has led to many people still using vapes that contain nicotine without a prescription, including children. As a reaction to this, the Australian Government is now seeking to introduce tougher restrictions on vaping. These restrictions will aim to ensure that only those with a prescription are using vapes by prohibiting the importation of non-prescription vapes, introducing plainer packaging and limiting the variety of flavours and colours that vapes come in. The Government will also spend millions of dollars on an information campaign and quit support programs. It is still unclear when these new measures will be introduced.

What Are Schools Doing to Manage Vaping?

In a previous School Governance article, we set out some measures that schools can take to manage vaping within the school environment.

A popular approach is to target areas in the school environment where students are likely to vape, in particular, school bathrooms. Schools may lock bathroom doors, use smoke detectors in bathrooms, or set up cameras or maintain effective staff supervision outside of these areas to prevent or catch students vaping. These measures are usually supported by confiscating vapes when students are found to have them in their possession.

Some other approaches aim to be more educational. For instance, some schools are aiming to teach students about the dangers of vaping through the provision of child-friendly information. This is the approach that the South Australian Government is taking as it prepares to launch a campaign for its government schools to alert students to the harmful substances found in e-cigarettes. These initiatives are usually supplemented by counselling services for students who have developed issues connected to vaping and also by educating parents and carers about the risks of vaping. This education for parents seeks to encourage them to support the school’s efforts in protecting the health of students and ensuring that students comply with the school’s policies. These initiatives are also bolstered by instructing staff on matters such as recognising students who may be vaping and the different shapes and sizes that vapes may take.

What Can Your School Do?

While schools wait for the laws and medical research around vaping to settle, they will need to consider what they can do in the current environment to manage vaping in schools.

The first port of call is shoring up their policies and procedures related to smoking, including vaping, and student discipline and behaviour. Schools will also need to ensure that these policies and procedures remain up to date with the evolving legal landscape.

Schools should also consider adopting some of the measures listed above. For instance, they could develop and make accessible to the school community resources that raise awareness about the health risks associated with vaping and to disabuse students of the notion that vaping is safer than smoking. Additionally, and as resources permit, schools could seek to refine their supervision strategies so that they can identify students who vape and to monitor problem areas at the school. Schools should also review these methods regularly and tweak them as necessary to ensure that they remain effective.