Vape detectors installed in NSW schools to combat rise in students vaping

Vaping rates among school students has led to some schools installing vape detectors. Knox Grammar is among a half dozen schools to have installed the devices to help combat the worrying problem.

Schools are installing vape detectors to combat the rise in nicotine-addicted students.

Andrew Wilmot from Cloudify said six NSW schools had recently installed Verkada environmental sensors to pick up vaping in toilets.

“It’s only been available for a month or so but obviously it’s a big issue and growing in attention across the schools,” Mr Wilmot said.

“The sensors pick up particulate matter as well as vaping. This is a way schools can keep a tab what is happening in the bathrooms and they get an instant alert it is detected in the bathrooms.

“There are also cameras at the exits of the bathrooms so they can identify who is coming and going from the bathroom — obviously you can’t install camera in the bathrooms but you can see who is going in and out while the vaping sensor is going off.”

Knox Grammar has confirmed it has recently installed vape detectors.

“As a school we recognise that vaping poses a serious health risk to teenagers and the detectors were introduced as a deterrent, in conjunction with an educational campaign focused on healthy choices,” a spokeswoman for the school said.

Knox Grammar School at Wahroonga recently installed vape detectors. Picture: AAP/Dan Himbrechts

Paul Dillon, who conducts Drug and Alcohol Research and Training in schools around the country, is also regularly contacted by parents asking for help for their nicotine-addicted children.

“I recently got an email from a mum asking for advice on how to help her 16-year-old daughter deal with the nicotine addiction since starting to vape eight months ago,” Mr Dillon said.

“I would get at least two or three emails a week from parents.”

Pro-vape advocates argue there is no rising incidence of vaping in schools and that those who currently vape may have smoked cigarettes first.

“Vaping by young nonsmokers is a legitimate concern because there are some undoubted risks,” Dr Alex Wodak said.

“Some young people vaping will become nicotine-dependent. A few may go on to smoking. There are potentially harmful effects from vaping. But the risks from vaping are relatively minor, and are often greatly exaggerated.”

Vaping among teens is reportedly on the rise.

Teen vaping is rare in Australia. In the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, which is very highly regarded, less than one in 50 Australian 14-17 year-olds (1.8 per cent) had vaped once or more in the last 12 months.

“More than 90 per cent of adolescents had never tried vaping. Most teen vaping is experimental and infrequent,” Dr Wodak said.

“One in three Australian teens who try vaping only do it once or twice. Over 70 per cent of young Australians who try vaping do it out of curiosity and for most it is a short-term experiment.

“Frequent vaping by nonsmokers is very rare in Australia and other countries.”

But a lack of up-to-date data from Australia conceals what is most likely a rising problem, Mr Dillon said.

“Cigarettes in the US are $8, in the UK they are $15 and in Australia they are $28, so it is not a surprise that our kids are far more likely to mess around with vapes well before they are going to buy a pack of cigarettes,” Mr Dillon said.

School data from 2017 found an estimated 9.5 per cent of 12-15 year olds and 20.7 per cent of 16-17 year olds have used an e-cigarette.

“I don’t make this up. I know of a couple of kids who have been put onto patches and another parent contacted me about a student who had been expelled twice,” he said.

“The student is getting through on patches and this student had never smoked a cigarette in his life.”

Vapes are easily sourced on social media and most have been found to contain nicotine without being labelled.

“The whole idea of vaping is to move people away from the more dangerous thing of smoking but what is happening is there are going to be a group of people (teens) who are going to be dependent on vaping, which defeats the purpose,” he said.

“They are getting busted at school and then trying not to vape during the day and finding it difficult.”