Has anyone in government ever asked a teenager what they’d do if vapes were made illegal? Clearly not, it seems, if you’ve read the work of Caitlin Notley, professor of addiction studies at the University of East Anglia. “It’s crucial that we talk to young people about their views on vaping, because they’re the ones who can inform us about the unintended consequences of a ban,” Prof Notley says. “The possibility that after an outright ban on disposable vapes is real, and it’s a big concern for us.
” After interviewing about their experiences with vaping and smoking for a study published in the summer, Prof Notley and her team concluded that a hard ban on disposable vapes will likely put dangerous, black market devices in the hands of more children, and lead some to smoke cigarettes instead. Cheap disposable vapes have already taken over schools, with many teachers confiscating Elf Bars in classrooms and school staff “installing cameras and vape detectors in toilets”. A ban cannot undo the fact that e to a generation of young people, and many teenagers now have a reliance on nicotine that could be tough to break without proper support, Prof Notley says.
“A ban will be a big experiment,” she adds, and “we don’t know what exactly will happen until it’s tried, but every ban on something dangerous comes with unintended consequences.” Here is why a hard ban on disposable vapes could do more harm than good – and might not produce a smoke-free gener.