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E-cigarettes are helping more smokers to quit in Jersey – but their use is also increasing among young people and those who have never smoked before.
The finding came in the latest Opinions and Lifestyle Survey by Statistics Jersey, which asked around 1,500 islanders about their habits, health and views on various aspects of island life.
The report showed a rise in vaping, with daily users going from 4% in 2022 to 5% in 2023.
More than a quarter (26%) of adults surveyed had tried or reported that they were currently using e-cigarettes – up from 19% the previous year.
The data also indicated a rise in smokers using vapes to quit, jumping from 22% in 2022 to 36% in 2023.
Half of those between 16 to 34 years of age had experimented with vaping, while 29% of them have never smoked cigarettes.
Pictured: the 2023 Opinions and Lifestyle report shows that e-cigarettes are increasingly used as an aid in quitting smoking but that there has also been a rise in use among young and non-smokers
A joint investigation by Bailiwick Express and the Jersey Evening Post revealed how sweet-inspired flavours, highlighter-style packaging, and a lack of regulation meaning products that are illegal in the UK can still be sold locally had helped spawn what one local doctor described as a "generation of nicotine-addicted kids" in Jersey.
Despite laws against selling vapes to under-18s in Jersey, the 2021 Jersey Children and Young People Survey found that 58% of 16 to 17-year-olds have tried e-cigarettes, with about a third using them occasionally or regularly.
Professor Peter Bradley, Director of Public Health, said at the time: “Occasional vaping among children has become more common, but few of the young people go onto use e-cigarettes occasionally or regularly.
"Although it is an effective tool for smoking cessation, it is not advised for non-smokers and particularly not for children.”
Pictured: A graph representing the frequency of e-cigarette usage among adults, by smoking status. (Statistics Jersey)
Ministers last year announced plans to ban disposable vapes, which they said was for "both environmental and health-related reasons".
The proposed ban will be subject to consultation, but could be introduced through an extension of the Single Use Plastics Law.
This law already prohibits the distribution of single-use-plastic bags and single-use-paper bags in Jersey, and was designed to be able to prohibit other single-use items such as disposable vapes.
Ministers are also due to investigate whether vaping products should be taxed like tobacco.
"With vaping’s growing popularity there has emerged a diverse range of products that differ in design, chemical composition, health implications and environmental consequences," the Government Plan – which sets spending and taxation plans for the next three years – said.
"This complexity warrants an evidence-based review to arrive at a balanced and effective taxation framework that works in concert with the Government’s regulatory and awareness strategies set out within the Government Plan and Ministerial priorities."
Goodbye disposable vapes? Ministers announce ban plan
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