Say goodbye to disposable vapes

From today, all vaping devices sold in New Zealand will need to have removeable or replaceable batteries - this means disposable vapes will be banned. 

The move is to try and make it harder for young people to buy cheap vapes.

No new shops will be allowed within 300 metres of schools and marae , and there’ll be more restrictions on vape flavour names. 

For example, names like 'cotton candy' and 'strawberry jelly donut' will need to be replaced with more generic flavour labels like ‘berry’.

Vape retailers now have three months to sell their disposable vapes, while there’s a six month lead-in time for reusable vapes to be compliant with the law.

Already, vape retailers like Shosha have introduced new disposable vapes that have removable batteries to comply with the law. 

Re: News asked different vape retailers in Auckland’s CBD if they were aware of the law change. 

All three retailers declined to be interviewed but said they were not aware of the law change around disposable vapes. 

More stories: 

How to protect yourself from sextortion

Netsafe says there has been 88% increase in reports of sextortion since 2019.

How Australia’s vape crackdown created a huge black market

And what New Zealand can learn from it.

‘The pressure makes you want an escape’: Youth vaping up 3x

“Young people don’t want to hear from the CEO of Te Whatu Ora, they can’t relate to them.”