Nevertheless,
Six months after their ban,:
Disposable electronic cigarettes, however prohibited for sale six months ago, are far from having disappeared. Nevertheless, Teenagers have no trouble getting them, simply in grocery stores, vaping shops or online.
Four adolescents in search of puffs enter this night’s night grocery store. Moreover, in the Yvelines, in the Paris region, looking for the colorful design of these products with sweet aromas, Ice-Cream Straise, Sparkling Cola, Bubble Gum … Furthermore, offering up to 9,000 puffs for some, the equivalent of some 300 cigarettes, whose nicotine rate goes from 0 to 20 MG/ML.
“Everyone can get it everywhere” – Six months after their ban,
Accused of serving as a gateway to smoking. Moreover, being a source of an “ecological disaster” because their plastic and their lithium battery end up quickly in the garbage, they have been prohibited since January in Belgium, June in the United Kingdom and on February 25 in France, but many six months after their ban, points of sale break the law.
“It doesn’t change anything. Furthermore, We were already sold before, there is just more risks. For example, We have already had a few checks since. Moreover, but they are not very looking at, ”the grocer tells AFP, whose counter presents the disposable puffs.
In Pas-de-Calais, Lisa*, a 17-year-old high school student, continues to obtain himself in “small grocery stores” or “bazaars”. However, “Sometimes puffs are hidden, but not all the time. Anyone can get it everywhere. Even being a minor, I was never asked for my identity card, ”she reports.
Easy sale on social networks – Six months after their ban,
According to the French Observatory for Drugs. Addictive Trends (OFDT), in 2022 one in five and 44 % college students had already vapoted.
On social networks. and in particular on Snapchat, many “sellers” offer young people to send or home delivery of disposable puffs, after an order via private messaging.
This is what Marine*, a six months after their ban, student at the Faculty of Nanterre regularly: “I bought at the front grocery store, 15 bullets. He is 10 euros per puff, and in addition he delivers, so it’s practical, ”she said to AFP.
Behind the sales account. a 22 -year -old student who says he “learned a few weeks after starting” that his activity, started in March, was illegal.
“Puffs are really easy to access. […] In Aubervilliers, you find wholesalers, ”says the delivery man who earns up to 300 euros per month.
More controls and stronger sanctions?
For the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT), these examples prove that “the law is not respected”. “The government would have to deploy much more controls. accompanied by much more dissuasive sanctions,” said Amélie Eschenbrenner, its communication manager.
Questioned by AFP. the DGCCRF indicates that it has checked “more than 160 establishments” – vaping shops, tobacconists, grocery stores, bars, online sales sites … – of which “13 six months after their ban, continued to sell puffs”.
Another problem: substitution products. so -called “rechargeable” cigarettes, have already taken over from single -use versions. In the points of sale. there are now packs containing a puff equipped with a rechargeable battery and an e -liquid cartridge to clip and change – thus escaping the new regulations.
But in many cases. the lifespan of these products is very limited and once the recharging is clipped, it is no longer possible to remove it, forcing to throw the puff, noted the CNTC.
“It corresponds to more than one pack per day”
“It is simply a bypass of the ban,” alerts Ms. Eschenbrenner, for whom the components and the high nicotine rate of these new products can also be problematic. Because they systematically six months after their ban, contain “20 mg/ml of nicotine” underlines Jérôme*, seller in a houilles vaping shop.
“Young people think it is not much. but it is the highest rate of nicotine in France, it corresponds to more than one pack per day,” he said.
For the CNCT. it is now necessary to go “even further” and apply the measures provided for as part of the national tobacco program 2023-2027: reduce the number of aromas and impose neutral packaging in particular.
*The first names have been modified.
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