00:0024-year-old Luke Wallace started vaping four years ago.
00:06Just being able to pick something up, take a hit, you know, you get a bit of nicotine.
00:09It's just the convenience, really.
00:10But he's recently switched to smoking, influenced by social media posts about the long-term
00:16health risks of vaping.
00:18You really have no idea what's in those vapes, whereas cigarettes, at least you know it's
00:21bad, but you know what it is.
00:23Experts say his experience is not unique, warning vapes are becoming a gateway drug
00:28for cigarettes.
00:29There is an increased risk of young people who vape, who would then go on to take up
00:33tobacco, traditional cigarettes, and that's about a three to four times increase.
00:39New world-first laws introduced by the federal government are said to restrict sales of vapes
00:44to pharmacies, and people under 18 will only be able to access them with a prescription.
00:50But with a new Cancer Council report finding about 1,200 12- to 18-year-olds are taking
00:55up vaping each week, doctors fear the crackdown could make them turn to tobacco to satisfy
01:01their growing nicotine addiction.
01:03There may well be a group of people who are shifting back to cigarettes or are moving
01:07to cigarettes for the first time.
01:09Vaping research shows young people underestimate the associated health risks, but as anti-vaping
01:15campaigns continue to reach teenagers and young adults, there are new concerns many
01:20have lost sight of the dangers of smoking.
01:23So they haven't been exposed to as much information, perhaps as they maybe need to have been, on
01:28just how harmful and how damaging tobacco and traditional cigarettes really is.
01:33Mr Wallers says he'd feel safer using a regulated vape from a pharmacy.
01:37If the government's kind of, you know, stepping in and being like, okay, this is what we're
01:41offering, I think that's definitely a good thing.
01:43But his message to others is simple.
01:45If you haven't started, just don't, that's it.
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