PEOPLE’S National Party (PNP) spokesperson on health Dr Alfred Dawes, in adding his voice to calls from local lobbyists for a ban on the sale of disposable vapes to counter rising addiction in adolescents, says more research should be done to unearth the impetus behind the growing trend.

“I would support any initiative that has been shown to be effective in decreasing the use of vaping as well as any other drug by children, especially adolescents. I think more research needs to be done as to the factors that are driving this increase in vaping that we are seeing; if it is that we are importing a subversive culture from overseas or is it that we have cultural influences here that are promoting vaping?” Dawes, a leading general, laparoscopic and weight loss surgeon, said in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

His observations come even as the British Government on Monday disclosed plans to ban the sale of disposable vapes by 2025 so as to tackle the rising number of children being addicted to nicotine there. Britain is aiming to pass a new Bill regarding vape by the time of the general election — expected to be this year — with it coming into force in early 2025. Once the timing is confirmed, retailers will be given six months to implement the measure. Additionally, the British Government intends to stick to a contentious proposal to ban young people from ever buying cigarettes. Local lobbyists, the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control (JCTC), on the heels of that announcement has urged the Jamaican Government to muster the strength to ignore wealthy tobacco industry interests and follow suit.

“That has been our position for many years. From the whole business of vaping came in and they were trying to mislead us into thinking it is a way to reduce nicotine [addiction], we have always maintained that there should be strict control — in fact, banning of e-cigarettes — so I am not surprised the British would be ahead of us in that regard because the anti-tobacco lobby there is very strong,” consultant psychiatrist and chair of JCTC Dr Aggrey Irons told the Observer Monday.

Speaking with the Observer on Tuesday, Dr Dawes said the imposition of any ban should be accompanied by other measures to ensure it does not backfire.

“In a similar way we have seen dancehall music promoting the use of drugs that were not popular in Jamaica just a few years ago. Banning vaping may be significant or it may just give rise to an underground market if there is a continuing demand for vaping and vaping products. So, I believe that any proposed ban must be supported by an education campaign and we must know what is driving it and try to address any local or international cultural influences that may be changing the mindset of the children and encouraging vaping in that population,” he told the Observer.

Added Dr Dawes: “We must look at the demand and not solely attempt limiting the supply by banning it because that approach alone may not help.”

According to Dr Dawes, targeting the plethora of vape shops which openly advertise to smokers and non-smokers alike also spells sense.

“There needs to be greater regulation and oversight to ensure that they are not selling to minors, whether it’s gas stations to businesses specialising in vaping and vaping products; there must be enforcement and it may mean that you have secret shoppers to test the rigidity of their protocols in respect of not selling to minors,” he said.

“We may have to extend the ban on smoking in public spaces to vaping in public spaces if we are saying that, people vaping in public spaces is free marketing for companies to the unintended population of children,” Dr Dawes said.

In the meantime, he said Britain’s position that making the packaging of the devices less attractive might lessen the appeal could perhaps not be entirely foolproof.

“It may or may not help. The use of graphic images of heart disease, cancer, and gangrene on cigarette boxes may have had some psychological impact, but from a lot of the smokers I interacted with, they looked at it as a joke where they would not buy the cigarette boxes with impotence [warnings] on it but they would buy the ones with heart attack and gangrene,” Dr Dawes pointed out.

“So you may have behavioral compensation whereby the intended effect does not pan out as human nature is to adjust and demand is dynamic. So maybe it may at this point in time work for a little while you may have adaptation to the packaging and the initial effect is diminished over time,” he added.

In December last year, the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) said it would be rolling out a national anti-vaping campaign this year. That was in response to the results of a baseline assessment which pointed to usage among primary and high school-aged students, sparking fears of nicotine addiction which might continue into adulthood.

At the time, NCDA research analyst Uki Atkinson said the study, conducted over the prior two months using focus groups across three parishes, was the result of increasing reports from schools across the island about vaping.

“Those discussions yielded a wealth of information as to what is going on with vaping. We knew already that it’s happening, but to hear it directly from the horse’s mouth confirms that we have an increasing problem facing us,” Atkinson said.

She said the students, some of whom spoke at length about their own experience with vaping, as well as those of other individuals in their space, told the researchers that it is now almost like a trend with young people.

According to the 2017 Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey, 15 per cent of Jamaicans aged 15 years and older currently use tobacco products. In addition, a significant number of Jamaican students are using tobacco and electronic cigarettes.

The latest data showed that 11.1 per cent of boys and 10.9 per cent of girls smoke cigarettes, while 13.7 per cent of boys and 9.7 per cent of girls use electronic cigarettes.

According to the NCDA, the glamorously marketed devices come in more than 7,000 different flavours, and their colourful packaging makes them attractive to children.

Last September, the World Health Organization (WHO), in calling for a ban on smoking and vaping in schools worldwide, said that young people continue to be “relentlessly” targeted with tobacco and nicotine products, and that the tobacco industry’s approach has resulted in increased use of e-cigarettes, with nine out of 10 smokers starting before the age of 18, and some as early as 11.

“Considering that children spend nearly one-third of their waking hours in school, and much of the peer pressure they encounter occurs within these educational environments, schools play a pivotal role,” the WHO said.

It said schools are in “a uniquely powerful position to play a major role in reducing the serious problem of smoking and other tobacco and nicotine use by kids”.