Across Australia, illicit tobacco and vaping products are flowing through borders and onto shelves at an alarming rate. Last week, new rankings from the Australian Council on Smoking and Health laid bare the uneven national response to the illegal cigarette and vaping trade, with some states investing heavily in enforcement while others are, in the words of the report, “well off the pace.”
This is a crisis that deserves the scrutiny it is receiving. Organised crime networks are profiting from the sale of products in suburban convenience stores, so much so that the Australian Border Force seized a record volume of illicit tobacco and vapes in the 2024–25 financial year. And while state governments are being urged to do more, we must ask ourselves a question that cannot be answered with enforcement tactics: what happens when the vape is already in a young person’s hands?
Supply is not the only problem
Licensing schemes, store closures, border seizures, and penalties; these are all legitimate and necessary tools to curb the proliferation of illegal vapes. Unfortunately, reducing supply, however vigorously pursued, does not automatically reduce demand. And demand – particularly among adolescents – is shaped by forces that no customs seizure can reach.
Even as laws tighten, illegal vapes continue to reach young people through social media channels, peer networks, and retailers willing to flout the rules. VicHealth research has documented how the industry actively exploits platforms like TikTok and Instagram to promote vaping as fun, normal, and low-risk by using flavour names, influencers, and even tips on how to conceal devices from parents and teachers. In other words, enforcement closes one door while unscrupulous marketing opens another.
This is why the evidence of vaping culture can be found in almost any secondary school throughout Australia. The research tells us just how serious the problem is, with the 2022–23 National Drug Strategy Household Survey finding that nearly one in four young people aged 14-17 who vaped reported daily use, while 31 per cent said they had tried to stop and could not.
What this research makes clear is that cracking down on illegal vapes, while an important step, is not going to solve what is quickly becoming a public health crisis among our youth. The problem is not simply access, but that young people have never been given the skills or a compelling reason to say no in the first place.
Why adolescence is the critical window
Adolescence is a period of profound neurological and social development, during which young people are especially responsive to peer influence, particularly susceptible to misinformation, and more likely to experiment. The human brain continues developing until around age 25, and early nicotine exposure has been linked to impaired attention and learning, and heightened vulnerability to depression and anxiety.
Prevention education is not only more effective at this stage; it is also more cost-efficient. Helping a young person avoid nicotine addiction in the first place costs a fraction of the health system burden that comes from treating it later. When you account for the lost productivity and reduced quality of life that follows years of nicotine dependence, the cost-saving potential of evidence-based intervention is exponential.
This is why the gateway risk posed by vaping is very real and frighteningly quantifiable. Twelve-year-olds who vape are 29 times more likely to go on to try cigarettes than those who do not. And many young people who are vaping do not fully understand what they are inhaling. They have no idea that these products can contain up to 200 harmful chemicals not listed on the label, and they have no reason to worry about the long-term effects of ingesting high levels of nicotine that rapidly establish dependence.
There is also a social dimension that supply-side enforcement cannot address. Vaping has, for many young people, taken on the cultural currency that cigarettes once held. It’s visible, social and, most dangerous of all, still somewhat perceived as low-risk. When a young person is navigating peer pressure, social normalisation and, in some cases, an already-established physical dependence on the drug, intervention must go beyond basic education and punishment.
What effective prevention actually looks like
The good news is that we know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to youth prevention. Research from South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People found that reactive disciplinary tactics like suspension, confiscation, and one-off awareness sessions do not work. The reason for this is simple: knowing something is harmful does not automatically change behaviour.
What does work is structured, evidence-based prevention education delivered in that critical window before habits form and peer norms solidify. Schools are uniquely placed to deliver the most effective kind of intervention: age-appropriate and skills-based, not fear-based, and embedded in school systems rather than bolted onto curriculum as an afterthought.
An important part of this process involves equipping teachers – not just students – with the knowledge and confidence to have real conversations, not just issue warnings. Teachers are on the frontlines of this unfolding crisis, so we must empower them to identify young people at risk of vaping and equip them with the skills needed to intervene in a way that actually works.
This is the work OurFutures Institute’s Vaping Prevention Program is designed to do. Part of a federally funded national rollout, the program aims to train 2,700 teachers and reach one million Year 7 and 8 students by June 2028. It meets schools where they are: within existing timetables, without adding to already stretched teacher workloads, and grounded in evidence rather than good intentions alone.
No one is arguing that a crackdown on vaping supply is necessary, but a truly effective response must also address the soaring demand and popularity of these products. The only way we will win the battle is by treating evidence-based prevention education not as a supplementary measure, but as a frontline defence.
After all, the most effective intervention is the one that happens before a young person ever picks up a vape.
