Stricter rules for the sale of vapes came into force in December. A compliance check found many stores were still flouting the law. Banned vaping devices are still being openly sold despite a crackdown, say researchers who investigated retailers using a “mystery shopper”.
Many of the stores also failed to verify age and were selling vapes at heavily discounted prices, with some admitting they were going cheap because they were illegal. The findings showed that regulation changes that were designed to make vaping less affordable and less attractive to young people had been largely ineffective, researchers said. “We were surprised by some of the blatant breaches of the rules,” said Dr Jude Ball, a public health researcher at the University of Otago who specialises in adolescent health and substance use.
“Retailers were saying ‘these ones over here are half-price because they’re not legal anymore’ and other instances where they clearly knew they were breaking the law.” As of December, disposable vapes could no longer be sold unless they included maximum nicotine limits, removable batteries, child safety features and new labelling requirements. The researchers sent a 20-year-old medical student into 74 specialist vape stores in the broader Wellington region to monitor compliance with these regulation changes and age restrictions.
The results, which were published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today , showed specialist stores were “pushing (if not breaking.