More than a third of Queensland teenagers have tried vaping, according to new health data.
State Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said Queensland Health found 35.6 percent of school students aged 12-17 had tried an electronic cigarette when surveyed in 2022-2023.
Minister Fentiman said this was more than twice the rate recorded in 2017, when 15.5 percent of the same age group stated they had ever tried vaping.
She said the trend was similar with young adults, with 45.3 percent of Queenslanders aged 18-29 vaping in 2022, almost twice the rate reported in 2018 (23.5 per cent).
“In positive news, the tobacco smoking rate in 2023 dropped to 10.1 percent, meaning the rates of Queensland adults who lit up daily had halved over the past 20 years.”
Minister Fentiman said the rate of Australian school students aged 16-17 who smoked cigarettes in the past week had dropped to just 2.9 percent, down from 29.8 percent in 1996.
“To disrupt and prevent the supply of illegal smoking and vaping products, Queensland Health works with Queensland Police Service and federal agencies like the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Border Force to enforce state and federal controls.”
She said Government this week passed new laws that increase penalties for the commercial supply or possession of illicit nicotine products such as vapes, as well as black-market tobacco.
“Queensland retailers who illegally sell cigarettes or vapes will now face jail terms, steeper fines, and extended closures.”
Minister Fentiman said amendments to the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998 allowed for tougher penalties including up to two years’ imprisonment and/ or court penalties up to $322,600 for an individual, or $1.6 million for a corporation.
She said Queensland was the first state to introduce strict new closure powers that allowed authorities to close a business for up to six months if they continued to sell illicit tobacco or vape products or operated without a smoking product licence.
“This means Queensland’s illicit tobacco and vaping enforcement framework is now streamlined so that supply and possession offences now exist under a single piece of legislation.
“We are determined to crack down on these dangerous product suppliers who have no regard for the health of Queenslanders.”
Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard said he was concerned that vaping use continued to rise among younger Queenslanders while the evidence of potential health harms also continued to mount.
“The range of health risks linked to vaping are expanding and include damage to lungs, nicotine addiction and toxicity and increasing evidence of adverse effects on mental health,” Dr Gerrard said.
“In young people, a key health concern about vaping is the risk it will lead to tobacco use. There is strong evidence that tobacco use is three times more likely for non-smokers who vape.”
He said the high levels of nicotine in illegal vape products were of particular concern in young people given the critical period of brain development that occurred in adolescence.
