E-CIGARETTES
E-cigarettes in Scotland: A Survey of Secondary School Pupils – found that awareness of e-cigarettes was almost universal across secondary school pupils in Scotland, with many knowing family members and friends who used e-cigarettes.
In line with other surveys in Scotland and other parts of the UK, the vast majority (81 per cent) of pupils had, however, never tried an e-cigarette. Of the 16 per cent of the sample, who had used them, the majority (81 per cent) had only tried them ‘once or twice’.
Current use at that time (defined as at least once a month) was reported by three per cent. In common with other surveys of adults, young people and children, most pupils who used or tried e-cigarettes were also tobacco smokers: while five per cent of pupils who had never smoked had also tried them. The survey also found that the more tobacco cigarettes a pupil smoked, the more likely they were to have used an e-cigarette.
A very small proportion of the small group who had used both e-cigarettes and conventional tobacco had tried an e-cigarette first. Most of those who had tried an e-cigarette had, on their first use, been given it by someone they knew, usually a friend or someone with whom they were hanging out.
Curiosity was the main driver for their first use, sometimes motivated by seeing a friend or family member using an e-cigarette.
In the week prior to the survey, most pupils had also been exposed to some form of e-cigarette marketing and promotion, including in-store displays for sale and in broadcast, online and print media.
Knowledge of the contents of cigarettes was quite good, the survey found, with 70 per cent correctly identifying that they were less harmful than tobacco. Rather alarmingly, however, 30 per cent did not know the answer to the questions as to whether e-cigarettes were addictive and whether they were harmful to health.
Sufficient numbers of survey respondents reported that they had successfully quit smoking tobacco through the use of e-cigarettes for them to be taken seriously as a
potentially useful tool to support smoking cessation or for tobacco harm reduction.
The Scottish Government report concluded that, while some smokers could benefit from using e-cigarettes, it did not think that these products were suitable for under-18s and indicated that a Bill was currently before the Scottish Parliament which included a number of provisions to enforce an age restriction on sales.
It is this legislation, which is to come into effect later this year and which will see sales of e-cigarettes to under-18s made illegal, so it’s vitally important that community pharmacists are aware of what the new legislation will mean for them.
As healthcare providers, many community pharmacies now provide e-cigarettes alongside their more proactive smoking cessation service as an aid to enable smokers to quit.
According to Action on Smoking & Health (ASH Scotland), and reinforcing the findings of the Scottish Government’s 2014 report, e-cigarettes can have a beneficial impact if young people ‘vape’ when they would otherwise have smoked, of if they help young people to stop using tobacco. They can, however, be problematic if they result in more young people using nicotine, who then go on to use tobacco.
Surveys in Scotland indicate that young people are engaging in a good deal of experimentation with e-cigarettes, but that not many young people are regular users of the devices. ASH has stated, however, that while ‘we cannot yet be certain whether or not e-cigarettes are drawing young people into smoking, it is encouraging that overall youth smoking rates continue to fall’.
So, how will this new regulation affect young people and retailers?
Well, later this year/early 2017, new legislation will make it illegal to sell e-cigarettes to under-18s, or to buy e-cigarettes on their behalf. It will not, however, be illegal for a young person to possess, use or try to buy e-cigarettes.
European regulation has banned advertising of e-cigarettes considered ‘international’ in nature, including TV, radio and newspaper advertising
and most sport sponsorship. Domestic adverts on bus shelters, shop windows, billboards and at point of sale are still legal, but will be considered by the Scottish Parliament during 2016/17.
ASH is suggesting that, in order to support influences on young people:
• Non-smokers should be discouraged from experimenting with vaping devices
• The vaping devices should not be over regulated so that they may present a less harmful alternative for those who would otherwise smoke tobacco
To complement the laws which will prohibit the sale or supply of e-cigarettes to young people under 18, ASH recommends that services discourage the use or possession of e-cigarettes amongst under 18s, or amongst older clients in the company of under 18s.
Recognising that staff are role models for young people they work with, staff should refrain from using e-cigarettes with, or in front of, young people as they should already do with tobacco cigarettes.
Staff should take opportunities to provide good information to help young people build their understanding of electronic cigarettes and to engage young people in discussions on tobacco and health more widely – making it clear to those already using tobacco that e-cigarette
use brings les harm, financial cost and risk of addition.
E-cigarettes have been sold since 2004 and in Europe since 2006. Since then, their popularity and availability has increased, which has led to debate around their use. Research by Mintel a couple of years ago found that, while the smoking cessation market had seen strong growth historically, with annual increases of around six to ten per cent between 2009 and 2012, sales of products, such as gum, tablets and patches had slowed, while the market for e-cigarettes had boomed.
According to the Office for National Statistics ONS), half of e-cigarette users use them or ‘vape’ as an aid to quit smoking. In recent research carried out by ONS, 53 per cent of the 2.2 million current e-cigarettes users in the UK said their main reason for vaping was to aid themselves in quitting smoking, while just over one in five (22 per cent) gave their main reason for vaping as the belief that e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes. Despite the cost difference between vaping and smoking, just nine per cent gave this as the main reason.
According to recent statistics from Mintel, a greater proportion of smokers and ex-smokers agree that e-cigarettes are a good way to cut down (32 per cent) rather than quit smoking (26 per cent), suggesting that people are using them as both a smoking cessation aid and an alternative to tobacco.
• There are an estimated 2.2 million current e-cigarette users in Great Britain, four per cent of the population.
• Seventy-four per cent of former e-cigarette users smoke cigarettes. • Fifty-three per cent of e-cigarettes users vape as an aid to quit smoking.
• Seventy-six per cent of e-cigarettes users think exposure to non-users has no health impact.
SCOTTISH PHARMACIST - 27
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