GC teen vaping crisis: Expert warns school kids buy ‘with ease’

Under-age youths are getting their hands on nicotine-base vapes with ease causing untold future damage, a leading Gold Coast health specialist warns.

Young male in red hoodie vaping smoking, exhales thick vapour, isolated rear view Picture: iStock

Under-age youths are getting their hands on nicotine-base vapes with ease causing untold future damage, a leading Gold Coast health specialist warns.

Gold Coast University Hospital head of paediatrics Dr Sue Moloney said all forms of vaping were harmful - nicotine-based or not - with parents mistakenly believing nicotine-free e-cigarettes were “harmless”.

“Our lungs aren’t designed to have high-temperature gases going into them. They’re not designed to have all the heavy metals, pesticides, organic solvents, formaldehyde that are in them to make the smoke taste attractive,” she said.

Children under 18 were presenting at medical waiting rooms with symptoms possibly linked to vaping, she said, while a report has noted some kids presenting are at primary age.

“(Young people) tell me as long as you don’t have a uniform on, you can get a vape,” Dr Moloney told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

High school students are increasingly admitting to vaping during medical appointments, Dr Sue Moloney head of paediatrics at the Gold Coast University Hospital said. Picture: Supplied

“So we’re seeing a lot of kids come to my clinic who are vaping, and the older kids tell me it’s very easy to get nicotine vapes without a prescription.”

In Queensland, it’s illegal to sell vapes to people under 18 and e-cigarettes can’t be advertised or displayed in shops. Nicotine vapes are illegal without prescription. A biennial Queensland state health snapshot shows 14.5 per cent of adults aged 18-29 vape, with overall e-cigarette use jumping 40 per cent from 2018 to 2022.

Ms Moloney said a rise in youth vaping was linked to ease of online purchasing and false marketing that vapes were less dangerous than traditional smoking.

Responding to a recent Question on Notice, Education Minister Grace Grace revealed state school suspensions and exclusions due to substance misconduct had spiked in two years. In 2020, Queensland state schools recorded 2889 suspensions compared to 8654 recorded in 2022.

The department of education attributed the spike to more students vaping or caught with vaping implements.

Dr Moloney added: “We don’t know the exact numbers yet, here on the Gold Coast, but among young adolescents, vaping rates are significant.

“But when we ask kids how many people in their school are vaping, they’ll tell us most of their mates are doing it.”

“So young people die from vaping, old people die from smoking – they’re equally as bad. And we have no idea what’s going to happen to these kids long term.”

Vaping has visibly increased across the Gold Coast. Pictured is a woman vaping while driving at Surfers Paradise. Picture: Gold Coast Bulletin

While Queensland has some of the nation’s most stringent vaping laws, Dr Moloney said a multi-pronged crackdown was necessary.

“All forms are harmful. We need more than just legislation to ensure we have healthy children becoming healthy adults with normal lungs,” she said.

Gold Coast schools have ramped up intervention and education programs to address illicit vaping on school grounds.

In 2021, a St Hilda’s senior student leader was suspended after being caught selling vape canisters to younger students. The shock scandal blew up as other Coast private and state high schools resorted to locking or severely limiting access to bathrooms to curb student vaping.

The Queensland Teacher’s Union Gold Coast branch said measures were being taken to address vaping and “a range of student behavioural issues on a daily basis” but the majority don’t vape.

Gold Coast branch president Cresta Richardson said: “The union appreciates the essential role parents and caregivers play to ensure these devices aren’t brought to school and students are aware of the dangers.”