Our Times’ director Bo Burns recently served as a judge at the 2024 Young Enterprise Business Scheme Awards. During the event, she took the opportunity to engage with local students, exploring their perspectives on vaping. Here’s what they had to say:
Vynce Santos, age 17
Do your peers vape? No.
Do you think it’s more males/females who vape? Males.
“I think it’s wrong, because you can get addicted and start to rely on it. They shouldn’t be so accessible.”
Phillip Taylor, 18
Do your peers vape? Yes.
Do you think it’s more males/females who vape? Males.
“I’ve never been a fan of vaping. It’s just random chemicals that people are consuming. I know so many illegal shops selling vapes to underage people.”
Adeline Santoso, 17
Do your peers vape? Yes, a lot.
Do you think it’s more males/females who vape? I think it’s mainly mixed.
“I think the age limits around vaping are way too loose. It’s a very loose system. I don’t like seeing these 10 or 11 year olds on social media vaping. I’m very eager to try help my friends and peers quit.”
Brian Duckworth, 18
Do your peers vape? Yes.
Do you think it’s more males/females who vape? Mixed, but maybe 60 per cent male.
“I don’t think vapes should be so easily accessible, because I think it just causes unhealthy habits. Consuming anything other than air is very bad for you.”
Luke Patelesio, 18
Do your peers vape? Yes.
Do you think it’s more males/females who vape? Mixed.
“It’s such a bad addiction that so many young people have. It’s been way too normalised in our society.”
Joshua DeSilva, 17
Do your peers vape? Yes.
Do you think it’s more males/females who vape? Mixed.
“I don’t think vaping is good at all. Nowadays, it’s so normalized for young people to vape. I think it’s become far too accessible, you can go down to any corner dairy by a school a buy a vape, which is very bad.”
