We have had yet another scientific research paper showing that vaping helps smokers’ quit. The King’s College London paper shows that smokers are five times more likely to successfully give up cigarettes by using vaping as a quit tool, compared to when they try it alone.

Showdown: New Zealand vs. Australia 

Geographic neighbours, but polar opposites when it comes to vaping policy.

Although both started off from a similar position of scepticism on vaping, in 2018 New Zealand did a U-turn and embraced vaping as a tool to help smokers quit.

Australia, on the other hand, continued down the same anti-vaping path paying no heed to growing evidence or the policies being adopted in other countries.

And the results? Well, they don’t leave much room for doubt.

The draconian vaping restrictions in Australia resulted in an increase in smoking. Whereas in New Zealand, where restrictions were lightened, smoking decreased!

The lesson from this Antipodean case study is pretty simple:

The more governments restrict access to vapes, the more smokers that will stay stuck on cigarettes. Meanwhile, if you reduce vaping restrictions, and utilise vaping as a way to help smokers quit, then smoking rates fall.

Considering that the aim of most governments is to reduce national smoking levels, they could do a lot worse than to take a leaf out of New Zealand’s book, embrace the vape and adopt a policy that is proven to work.