Fair Go is undercover.
Can you look at me?
Hidden cameras
recording.
So if I'm the guy you want to be about there.
Okay, cool.
Go for it.
We're here to expose just
how easy it is for kids to buy vapes over the counter.
How
many?
How many?
He's asking how many.
He's not asking how old
are you son.
He's 14.
Too young for nicotine but vaping gets
you hooked early.
I need this.
I really need this right now.
I
can't live without it.
It's what it feels like.
It is an
epidemic amongst youth.
Since the end of 2020 it has
been illegal to sell nicotine vapes to anyone under eighteen.
Hi can I just get a zesty lemon disposable?
But is anyone
checking up on that?
Well we are in Gisborne with the help
of two mystery shoppers.
A 17 year old we'll call Mary.
Okay
you're good.
And another we'll call Joe.
You reckon you might
be able to buy some vapes in this town?
Yep probably.
I'll
give it a try and see.
They've agreed with consent from whanau to
wear concealed cameras and mics.
I'm leaning them my cash
card.
This has got no money on it so it won't let you actually
buy it but we'll see whether or not they're prepared to sell it
to you.
You're 14 that shouldn't happen, right?
No.
Give
it a shot, eh?
Yeah.
Cool.
Alright.
This all started for
Fair Go with an unusual consumer complaint about vaping.
You're
seeing all the younger generation starting to take it on and
from personal experience it's not it's not the way to
go.
I think they should stop before they start.
Tarrell is
almost sixteen.
He's been hooked for nearly 2 years.
He
started early.
Yeah fourteen.
Which is not good.
Not good for
his health or his wallet.
30, 20, 30, 10, 60, and 60.
It's like about 200 bucks worth of just devices.
Yep.
And a lot
more on juice.
The vape juice that fills and refills them has
cost thousands all following from that first hit at
14.
It taste like coke ice cold it taste like coke so
it's like yeah I like it.
And of course it was loaded with
nicotine.
There's this wave through youre body I was like oh I like it so I just
continued from there.
Many vapes
now use nicotine salts which aren't as harsh on a young
throat so they can pack a bigger punch and here they do.
I'm going to keep going higher once you get to the top just
like feel out of it the weird you know the head rush.
In
Europe a standard vape pod can have up to 20 milligrams of
nicotine we allow more than double that here.
There's 50
milligrams of nicotine basically in these vape pods
and we're hearing from teenagers and parents saying
their kids are going through a vape pod 50 milligrams in two
or three hours that's the equivalent of a pack and a half
of cigarettes.
The asthma and respiratory foundation has been
watching with alarm.
It surveyed 19,000 school kids and found
more than one in four had vaped in the past week.
Of those 80%
were vaping at high doses so you know that's 24 to 50
milligrams that's that's a high pod.
Tarrell has noticed he
can't concentrate at school without vaping.
You get
stressed, irritated and just angry I think.
We know that
nicotine affects the developing brain.
We know that it's one of
the highest addictive substances out there in the top
five.
Rangatahi Maori - under 18s - are twice as likely to pick up
vaping.
In Gisborne Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa, population 40,000, half are Maori.
This place
has 22 licensed specialist vaping outlets.
Just to compare
Christchurch has twice as many, but 10 times the population.
Like that's quite good.
This next dairy we're checking is
more than it seems.
This bit on the side is one of those
specialist vape retailers, a shop within a shop.
You have to
be 18 and over just to walk in.
If you look under twenty-five,
they're meant to ask first for ID.
Next door in the dairy or
at the petrol station down the road, they can only sell three
basic flavors: mint, menthol, or tobacco, and there are
thousands of places like that all around the country but here
they can sell a huge range of flavors.
Hiya can I get a zesty
lemon disposable?
A zesty lemon disposable?
One?
Just yeah
just one thank you.
Hasn't said a thing she's just served
her.
Here comes the sale.
Remember our cash card is
empty.
Oh I'll just quickly go get a different card.
That was too easy and too common.
Tarrell lives just
outside Palmerston North.
Same story there.
Go in there and
buy your stuff and walk out.
It was amazed me how how they
actually didn't stop and ask for ID.
Mary is about to meet
her first challenge.
Turns out it's a pretty low hurdle.
Hi
can I get some zesty lemon pods?
That's the sale.
Remember the
card's empty, it declines and only then.
Can I have a look
behind?
That ID check was a bit of an afterthought, they'd already
put the purchase through.
But when we test them with Joe
they're a bit more onto it.
Want a single one?
Yeah.
Got any
ID?
No, I don't.
I'm actually supposed to check everyone who
looks under twenty-five.
You're going to have to go and bring
it back.
I can't sell it to you until I see it.
Oh ok.
Sorry.
All good.
By the book, this time.
When Fair Go
approached them, they responded.
We're human.
We do
make mistakes.
We work long hours and kids continually try
to get served.
But they should know the deal.
So, we
understand that the authorities have been around all these vape
sellers recently to tell them to play by the rules, so they
should be on their A game.
Which makes this a bit of a shocker.
Do you sell vapes?
Yeah.
Polar mint and tobacco flavour?
I'm after the polar mint please.
How many?
Just
one please.
Okay $10.
Card declined, you want to try again?
I'll just go get
some money out of the car.
Okay.
So at 14 Joe can
buy vapes just like Tarrell could.
So 14's young but
are there younger?
One of my good mates as well, his brother - 11
years old I think it was - got caught vaping at his primary
school.
Tarrell knows where that's headed.
Probably the
most stupid decision I've ever made in my whole life.
It's a
heavy load that he doesn't want others his age to carry.
So
you're the prime minister, what are you going to do about it?
I'll
probably address the nation as you know what?
I'm sorry.
I
know I might lose a bit of respect from younger children
but that's okay you can't vote.
But I'm going to say so I'm going to
lower the nicotine and probably the age up and make it more
expensive.
Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall told us
the new laws that are about to ban smoking for the next
generation will also tighten up who can sell vapes by making
all stores register.
Hopefully with stricter enforcement of
the rules too.
What would sixteen year old Big T tell fourteen?
I
think you're a bit of a nutter mate.
Why?
Why did you start?
Cuz if you could see yourself in two years ahead of you.
Uh
you'd be disappointed.