Abstract
BackgroundThe New Zealand (NZ) government is to lift the ban on the sale of nicotine for use in electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).MethodsUsing a naturalistic approach, we sought to understand how the current law was experienced by e-cigarette users (vapers). Twenty-nine vapers were interviewed by telephone, between May and September 2016, using a semi-structured interview schedule. Open-ended questions covered: initiating vaping, the experience of stopping smoking, technical problems encountered, reasons for vaping, acceptability of vaping, addiction to vaping and advice given to smokers about vaping. The audio recordings were transcribed and then independently coded using a general inductive thematic analysis.ResultsThis paper presents the main theme which was that vapers employed a range of reactionary strategies to the ban on the sale of nicotine e-liquid in NZ. These included lobbying government, spreading the word, establishing vaper support groups, helping people stop smoking by switching to vaping and advocating for e-cigarettes to be incorporated into smoking cessation practice.ConclusionsVapers’ experience and observations form a popular or lay epidemiology––one that identified that e-cigarettes were helping people stop smoking and could thus deliver public health benefits. Public health researchers and workers, and government fears about vaping, and proposals to strengthen restrictions contributed to the growth of the vaper community who reacted by forming self-help groups and providing alternative cessation support to smokers. For a significant switch from smoking to vaping to occur, the health sector needs to have a change of attitude towards vaping that is positive, and the public needs evidence-based information on vaping. A first step could be for the health sector to collaborate with the vaping community to reorient current tobacco control and cessation practice to encourage smokers to switch to less harmful smoke-free alternatives to smoking.
Highlights
The New Zealand (NZ) government is to lift the ban on the sale of nicotine for use in electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)
A purposive sub-group of survey participants was selected to enhance the analysis of the survey data and provide a deeper understanding of how, when and why vapers vape; how easy it is to vape and to buy e-cigarettes; how useful e-cigarettes are as stop smoking aids; whether e-cigarettes reduce craving for nicotine; whether vaping brings any benefits or risks; and how family, friends and others respond to vaping
A major theme to emerge from the study was that NZ vapers felt that they had been abandoned by the health sector and that their continued access to vaping products was threatened
Summary
The New Zealand (NZ) government is to lift the ban on the sale of nicotine for use in electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Smoking and other high-risk ways of using tobacco are causally associated with the death of about 6 million people each year [1]. In 2013, the World Health Assembly established a global voluntary tobacco target to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use by 30% in people aged 15 years and over [1]; the prevalence of smoking is still increasing globally [2]. 5% or below smoking prevalence goes much further than the World Health Assembly goal but is on track to achieve this only for the most privileged [3]. The growth of the use of e-cigarettes (vaping) as a social practice [5] has challenged conventional narratives about nicotine and tobacco, sparking a divisive debate among public health researchers and advocates [2]. Vaping has some positive effects, such as reversing smokingrelated harm [20] and potentially modelling stop smoking behaviour [21]
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