A SERVICE to help young people quit vaping is urgently needed to save thousands of teenagers from lifelong nicotine addiction, a charity has said. The Irish Heart Foundation said there is “a youth vaping epidemic” in Ireland and dedicated support was needed to help young people quit one of the most addictive substances on the planet. In its pre- Budget submission, the charity also called for the price of cigarettes to increase to €20 pack and new taxes on vapes set at a sufficient level to deter young people from taking them up.
Irish Heart Foundation’s director of advocacy Chris Macey said: “We know that many young people are looking for help to quit vaping and from programmes in the US that when such help is available, it can be highly effective. “Failing to provide this support in the face of a youth vaping epidemic the State has not done enough so far to prevent, would be tantamount to abandoning thousands of teenagers at risk of long-term addiction.” Mr Macey said the HSE is continuing to receive calls across all its stop smoking services from people looking for help with quitting vapes.
But despite the growing demand, he said Quit.ie is not resourced to provide the service, which requires different approaches than traditional smoking cessation services to be most effective. The Irish Heart Foundation also pointed to data from youth information and support platform, Spunout, which has received thousands of views of its webpage on the health effects of smoki.