National would take a look at banning vaping if elected in October, party leader Christopher Luxon says.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Luxon said the issue of young people vaping in New Zealand needs to be nipped in the bud.
"I think we've got our settings all wrong and it's right for us to actually take a step back and actually say is there more we could be doing and I think looking at a ban is a good thing.
"The reality is I talk to parents every single week and if you talk to principals and the disruption it causes in classrooms and in learning because of young people being addicted to nicotine in this way, it's a real problem."
It comes after Australia announced it's plan yesterday to ban recreational vaping.
States like New South Wales have already brought in strict rules prohibiting the sale of vapes to under 18s, with bans on advertising the products too.
However, a federal government crackdown will see it made illegal to sell non-prescription vapes completely, even if they do not contain nicotine.
Luxon said he "really admires" the Australian Government's decision, and thinks New Zealand should consider following suit.
"I think good on them, they're trying to nip an issue in the bud early, this was a promise that actually it was the last bit of toolset we needed to get people to come off cigarettes and instead it's ballooned and mushroomed into a massive addiction for young people.
"Let's do it now rather than let this issue carry on for another 30 years and regret it down the road."
Luxon said vaping is a disruption for young Kiwis, especially in the classroom.
"It's pretty wild west out there, you've got lots of stores, more stores than pharmacies, stores opposite schools [selling vapes] and the products aren't supposed to be sold or marketing to people under the age of 18 and yet they're clearly being consumed by lots of people under the age of 18."
He said the Government has spent 30 years trying to stop Kiwis from smoking and now there's a whole new generation of people taking up vaping, becoming addicted to nicotine in a different way.
"The reality is, we were promised a tool that was needed to get really hardcore addicts off cigarettes and on to something better and the reality is it's sparked a whole lot of new addictions for young people."
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