Nicotine pouch craze dangerously targets high school kids: Griffith Uni warns

A dangerous nicotine product is illegally flooding the Australian market, with a university social enterprise urgently warning students about the deadly health risks behind the colourful marketing.

Griffith University is warning high school kids and young people about the latest illegal nicotine-style craze. Picture: Contributed

A dangerous new nicotine product marketed as the “vape killer” is being pushed onto young people and school kids across Australia, even though it is illegal to buy, sell or import.

Griffith University’s Blurred Minds social enterprise has launched an urgent education module to warn teenagers about nicotine pouches, small white packets placed between the gum and lip that release fast-acting synthetic nicotine into the bloodstream.

The social enterprise warns the pouches are dressed up in bright packaging and fruity flavours to trick young people into thinking they are safe, when in reality each pouch delivers a hit of addictive nicotine and chemicals.

Nicotine pouches are the latest illegal tobacco-type craze hitting Aussie high schools.

Claims the pouches are “tobacco-free” are also misleading, according to the academy. While they may not contain tobacco leaf, they still carry harmful additives and remain illegal across Australia.

Health risks identified by Griffith researchers include nausea, vomiting, headaches, mouth sores, bleeding gums, seizures and heart damage. Each use spikes heart rate and blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Even worse, Blurred Minds warns nicotine exposure can permanently damage young people’s memory, focus and learning, effects that may only surface years later.

Griffith Social Marketing Research Fellow Dr James Durl said nicotine pouches were the latest tactic by tobacco companies to hook a new generation.

Griffith University Social Marketing Research Fellow Dr James Durl lectures on the dangers of nicotine pouches. Picture: Griffith University

“Nicotine pouches are highly addictive and unpredictable,” Dr Durl said.

“First it was cigarettes, then vapes, now it’s these pouches and they’re using the same tricks all over again.”

Dr Durl said illegal pouches were likely being sold through some tobacconists or ordered online from overseas distributors, and that tax hikes alone would not deter big tobacco companies.

“Taxes will only change the tactics they use to sell,” he said.

“I don’t think the solution is simply ban or don’t ban, it’s an education issue.

“Tobacco companies have a lot of money and slip new products into communities, and leave others to clean up the misinformation.”

Nicotine pouches began appearing in Australia after the federal government tightened vaping laws in October 2021, banning imports of nicotine vaping products without a doctor’s prescription.

It is suspected that illegal nicotine pouches are being sold under the counter at certain tobacco stores in Brisbane and online. Picture: Contributed

Even tougher restrictions, including a national ban on disposable vapes, began from January 2024.

Blurred Minds researchers said the nicotine pouches had since filled the gap left by banned vaping products, promoted online as a “study aid” or workout booster, claims they called completely false and dangerous.

Dr Durl said companies were simply replacing one addiction with another.

“These companies marketed vapes as a quitting tool for cigarettes, and now they’re pushing pouches as a quitting tool for vapes,” he said.

“It’s the same old story, a different product but the same false promises.”

In response, Griffith’s Blurred Minds social enterprise has launched a new interactive module using games and activities to help Queensland students see through the marketing spin and understand the real risks.

The nicotine pouch module is now available to all state and private schools across Queensland.

“We want young people to know the truth before it’s too late,” Dr Durl said.