Vaping takes place in pubs, in school toilets and even in the classroom. Disposable vapes with flavors are particularly popular. A study by the Trimbos Institute already showed in 2019 that young people are more likely to choose e-cigarettes than regular cigarettes. Of the students aged 12 to 16 in 2017, 27.5 percent had used an e-cigarette at some point; among vocational and higher professional education students aged 16 to 18, the figure was 44 percent. It appears that these numbers have risen further and that users are getting younger and younger. “Although we do not yet have the data, we are also hearing and seeing indications that this is increasing,” says Trimbos physician Esther Croes. “We are quite concerned about that.” One of these indications is vaping at school.
Of the 642 secondary schools in the Netherlands that received an online questionnaire from NOS, 120 responded; 80 schools said that vaping does indeed take place there. At least 50 schools said this also happened inside the school: in toilets, in the corridors, and even in the classroom.
In the NOS Stories study, teachers and/or school leaders report that young people suffer from vaping: “They feel nauseous or are absent, less focused, drowsy and sometimes short of breath.
Although the sale of vapes to minors is prohibited, young people can obtain a vape more easily than cigarettes. The Ministry of Health is therefore working on a law that would ban the online sale of tobacco altogether.
Read the full NOS article here.