By Geoff Sloan
South New Brighton nurse Kirsten Carey is calling for tighter regulations to control vaping after the owners of the Bridge St Dairy on Estuary Rd added a vape shop extension to their store in late October.
The Vape Shoppe New Brighton is less than 400m from South New Brighton School and 80m from a kindergarten.
Carey is concerned about the number of vape shops and the availability of vaping products in residential neighbourhoods.
“It’s just something I don’t want in our community. I feel for the local dairy owners – it’s getting tougher and tougher – but I don’t think the solution is having a vape shop and we don’t need one in our community,” she said.
“We are a health-promoting community. We’re all about inclusion, but we certainly don’t want devices that are going to cause harm to our children”.
Bridge St Dairy owner Umesh told Pegasus Post a couple of residents had expressed concerns, but he didn’t believe there were any issues.
He said it was a convenience store for the locals, and his business met all the legal requirements to sell vape products.
Christchurch East MP Reuben Davidson said the business was compliant with current regulations, but its presence was still causing a bit of concern.
He had received a lot of feedback from the community, with people saying they were unhappy with the store and would be taking their business elsewhere.
Under current law, general retailers selling vape products are limited to selling menthol, tobacco and mint-flavoured vapes, while specialist vape retailers (SVRs) can sell a full range of products and flavours.
Some retailers have built smaller retail outlets within their stores allowing them to become specialist vape retailers.
Dairies and supermarkets with SVRs installed before August 2023 also avoid the proximity rule and are able to sell vapes within 300m of schools and maraes.
New vape legislation currently before the Health Select Committee proposes specialist vape stores will need to be at least 100m from early childcare education centres, banning disposable vapes and banning the display of vaping and heated tobacco products in retail outlets.
“The legislation is going to address some of the issues around proximity. I don’t think anyone’s proposing that pre-schoolers are going across the road to buy vapes,” Davidson said.
“I think what we’re talking about here is just a proliferation of vape stores, generally, across communities”.
Carey is calling on the Government to take a tougher stance on vaping.
“I was very disappointed they didn’t stick to the 2025 smokefree legislation”.
High vaping rates among young people continues to be a major public health concern.
A 2023/24 NZ Health survey found 10.5 percent of people aged 15-17 vaped daily, that number almost tripling to 26.5 percent among people aged 18-24.
Carey is vowing to keep up her campaign and is pledging to take it further.
“I won’t stop,” she said.