Youth smoking falls

Great news in the ASH survey of Year 10 students. The daily smoking rate is now down to 1.3%. At the turn of the century it was over 15%. The daily vaping rate is 9.6% which is somewhat concerning, but vaping is far less harmful than smoking.

But only 3% of students who have never smoked vape daily. While 80% of students who are daily smokers vape daily. This strongly indicates it is mainly turning smokers into vapers, rather than attracting non-smokers.

The daily smoking rate for Maori students is down to 3.4%. A year ago it was 5.8% and 20 years ago it was a massive 30%+.

It’s great to see such huge progress. If one can stop someone getting addicted to tobacco at age 14, that makes a real difference.