2022 Vaping Stand Downs Just 0.44% Of All School Students

Dairyowners are pointing to a parliamentary answer that puts the vaping “epidemic” in new light, with violence, a much larger issue in schools and something dairy owners say is reflected in youth crime.

“No kid should vape, period, but if kids were as addicted as some lobbyists claim in targeting us as hugely compliant sellers, then there ought to be tens of thousands being stood down but there’s nothing like that,” says Sunny Kaushal, Chair of the Dairy and Business Owners Group.

“There were 3,582 vaping/smoking stand downs last year. This is 0.44% of 815,151 school students. Less than half a percent.

“The biggest reason by some margin was violence to each other (7,115) and staff (765), harmful or dangerous behaviour (3,625) and then yes, smoking/vaping at 3,582. We didn’t even count arson or weapons in violence.

“There were an unbelievable 1,256 stand downs for drugs, 309 stand downs for sexual misconduct/harassment with 2,281 stand downs for verbal assaults on staff or each other (2,281).

“In total, there were 22,723 stand downs last year so almost 3% of every school student in Aotearoa was stood down for one reason or another.

“These are facts from a Written Parliamentary Answer by the Minister of Education no less that we applied against 2022 Ministry roll data.

“Being really conservative, and just going with secondary students instead, then 3,582 vaping/smoking stand downs in 2022 would be 1.27% of 282,839 secondary pupils.

“This may explain why 15 large schools we approached in 2022, couldn’t tell us just how many vapes they’d confiscated. It’s easy to show a drawer full of vapes, but is that from last week, last month, last year, or since 2019?

“If we’re going to play percentages, what about a 21% fall in vaping stand downs from Term 3 into Term 4 2022? We know Auckland Grammar School stood down fewer kids for vaping in the 13-months to June this year, than for 12 months to May 2021 and that was Covid-19 affected too.

“Then again, vaping seems to have become an easy distraction for declining school discipline. We get to experience this daily. In 2022, 1,708 serious offenders were kids aged from under 10 to 17, then again, 91% of all serious offenders literally get away with it.

“This constant undermining of vaping undermines the biggest reason why New Zealand could become smokefree, with smoking still behind an eighth of all deaths [4,000 to 5,000 each year Dr Verrall says].

“People should seriously start asking those who throw the biggest stones at vaping and at us as hugely compliant sellers, just who benefits if smokers suddenly lost access to the vapes?” Mr Kaushal said.

Please see Written Parliamentary Answer 2212 (2023) noting that smoking would include vaping stand downs. Our 2023 Vaping Report is also available.

Dairy Owners Quick Facts on Vaping:

In 2022 vaping 3,582 smoking/vaping stand downs represented 0.44% of all school students (or 1.27% if applied to secondary school students only).

Since July 2019, no hospital events in New Zealand have reported vaping as a primary diagnosis. Since July 2022 (to 4 May 2023) there has been no use of a vaping code in secondary diagnosis and in 2022, it was used four times versus 346,000 daily vapers.

Since 2016, ACC claim costs show vaping is 3,207 times less costly than cycling ($172,661 versus $553,813,748) comparing 346,000 daily vapers in 2022 (103,000 in 2017/18), to around 730,000 cyclists (48,000 cycled to work in 2018).

Dairies, petrol stations and supermarkets are highly compliant sellers with a median compliance of 94% for cigarettes and RYO since 1 January 2019 and 97% for vaping sales since 1 January 2022.

Ministry tobacco returns show that comparing 2012 to 2022 (11 years), imports of cigarette and RYO tobacco have fallen by over 1,007 tonnes and the fall has accelerated since 2018.

The record fall in harmful daily smoking mirrors the rise in far less harmful daily vaping; between 2020/21 and 2021/22 (two years), 154,000 fewer people daily smoke including 45,000 Māori.

While there is a focus on youth vaping, we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that the Ministry of Health says 90% of vapers over 25 are ex-smokers.

Vaping is not only 95% less harmful than smoking, it could be more effective than prescribed Nicotine Replacement Therapies too (2022 Kings College London for the UK Government and Cochrane Reviews 2022).

Reported vaping deaths in the United States have been linked to illegal THC and Vitamin E acetate ingredients.

ENDS

For more information: Sunny Kaushal (021 262 9595)