The government's pointed to vapes as a key weapon in the war against cigarettes.

"This was a sluggish government response," - Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Boyd Swinburn

The government's pointed to vapes as a key weapon in the war against cigarettes.

In the rush to reach its smokefree targets, however, there are fears the horse has bolted - with children exposed to a whole new addiction.

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Vapes were in an unregulated wild-west market until 2020, when the government set a minimum age of 18, banned advertising, and restricted flavours to tobacco, menthol and mint - unless sold by specialist retailers. Those retailers have since continued to spread, many within reach of their most vulnerable customers: children.

Vaping in under-18s tripled between 2019 and 2021.

Education Minister Jan Tinetti told RNZ's education correspondent John Gerritsen vaping was being raised with her constantly: "I have principals that tell me this is just about their number one issue - particularly in secondary," she says. "I think out of the four schools that I went into last week, every single one of them brought vaping up to me."

Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Boyd Swinburn says the government's been slow to respond.

"There's a few years that we didn't have any regulations on the books and the vape shops have sprouted up like mushrooms - and dairies cut themselves in half to be able to sell vapes because they've got such a high profit margin that it makes them a bit irresistible really. So now we're having to deal with reversing that trend, which is much harder than having to prevent it in the first place."

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has long talked about striking a balance between discouraging children from taking up the habit while encouraging it as a tool to help smokers quit.

The smokefree goal has been championed by Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, whose world-first legislation prohibiting anyone born after 2008 from ever being able to buy tobacco came into force in January.

Health Minister Ayesha Verrall

Combined with ever-increasing excise taxes and reductions in nicotine levels and retailer numbers, smokers have never had more reasons to quit…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details