Mum’s warning to parents after 12-year-old son buys vape from stranger over Snapchat

An Albany mother has issued a warning about vaping, saying her 12-year-old son bought e-cigarettes from a stranger he contacted through social media app Snapchat. The mother, who asked not to be named, said the first she knew of her son’s use of e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, was when the Year 7 Albany Senior High School student was suspended from school last week for vaping on campus. “I knew there were teenagers vaping, but I didn’t think that age group would be affected by it, so it was a bit of a shock,” she said. The woman said her son told her he had bought e-cigarettes from someone he contacted through Snapchat, and had met up with them to make the purchase when he told his mother he was going for a bike ride. “And that’s what he was actually doing — he was meeting this person to buy a vape,” she said. “So he had never met this person before, it could have been anyone. “That was probably the most terrifying part of it for me, that my son was willing to go and meet a complete stranger to buy vapes.” The mother said after her son told her how he bought the e-cigarettes, she contacted the seller herself through Snapchat and confronted them about selling e-cigarettes to children. She said she reported the seller to police the next day. E-cigarettes work by heating liquid containing chemicals and flavouring into an aerosol which is inhaled through a mouthpiece and exhaled as a fine particulate smoke. Many e-cigarette liquids contain the highly addictive substance nicotine and can contain chemicals found in cleaning products, nail polish remover, weedkiller and insect spray. In WA, it is illegal to sell, supply or possess e-cigarettes or e-cigarette liquid that contains nicotine without a doctor’s prescription. Products that resemble tobacco products, whether they contain nicotine or not, cannot be sold by tobacco or general retailers. On Sunday, the mother created an anonymous post on community Facebook page Albany Mums Chat, warning other parents their children could also be buying vaping devices without their knowledge. “It just played on my mind . . . I was just like ‘How did I not know about this, and how many other parents out there don’t know about it?’,” she said. “Had I known, maybe it wouldn’t have gone as far as it did. And the fact that he’d met a complete stranger over Snapchat, that was really, really scary . . . I just wanted to warn other parents.” On Tuesday, ASHS sent a letter to parents and carers from school principal Melissa Walker which addressed reports of vaping at the school. “ASHS has an ongoing concern about students using vapes on school premises or on their way to and from school,” Ms Walker wrote. “There has been a growing concern about the harmful effects vaping has on young people.” The letter included information about the health impacts of vaping and a link to educational resources. The mother who spoke to the Advertiser said her son had been involved in class discussions at ASHS about the dangers of vaping, and the issue of vaping on campus had been raised at a school assembly. “As parents, we should be doing the right thing at home and having that conversation with the kids, but then we can’t be at the school, so we need them to be doing the right thing there, too,” she said. In July, study results released by Perth-based social enterprise The Behaviour Change Collaborative revealed many WA teenagers who vaped were only “superficially aware” of the health risks, and were not convinced of the severity of the possible health impacts. If you suspect someone is selling e-cigarettes, the matter can be reported to the Department of Health by emailing TobaccoPolicy@health.wa.gov.au.