Children as young as 11 in Warrnambool are being caught with illegal vapes and the issue is reaching crisis point, according to police, youth workers and a vape store owner.
They say dangerous disposable vapes with high nicotine doses and a range of harmful chemicals are available to children via a black market online and in local stores.
In Australia it is illegal for anyone to possess a nicotine-filled vape unless they are over 18 and have a prescription; children are not allowed to vape no matter the nicotine content.
But many children are vaping, even at school.
Harriet Rose from the Western Regional Alcohol and Drug Centre is referred children who are dealing with all kinds of dependencies and says Warrnambool could be at the start of a vape crisis.
"I'm getting loads of referrals from schools, so kids who have been caught vaping actually in school," she said.
Ms Rose said she had received up to seven referrals from schools in as many days and that she regularly saw three referred students a week across all the schools in Warrnambool.
"It could get out of hand and it could be a big struggle if we don't get onto it soon," she said.
The autopsy of a Queensland man last year showed he died of a severe lung injury that was probably caused by vaping.
New research, including some conducted in Australia, has challenged the notion that vaping is a safe option as they contain chemicals linked to lung, bladder and gastrointestinal cancers.
A 15-year-old Sydney girl ended up in intensive care in September with what doctors believe was e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), a new lung illness emerging among vape users.
Social media market selling to children
Warrnambool police's youth specialist officer, Janielle Kaye, said childhood vaping was a growing problem.
"There seems to be a … black market of people accessing [vapes] and then using Snapchat and other applications to advertise the availability of vapes," Senior Constable Kaye said.
"The young people are then interacting with these people online and perhaps meeting up with them face to face ... that raises broader concerns in terms of younger people perhaps being exposed to criminal elements or undesirable elements."
Ms Rose said that while some young people were getting vapes from friends or parents, she was concerned some retailers were also doing the wrong thing.
"There are some shops locally that shouldn't be selling vapes anymore but they probably still are," she said.
Vape store founder also concerned
Also concerned about the growing trend is the founder and director of D&R Vape, Ryan Oakley, who runs stores in Warrnambool and Adelaide.
He sells chargeable, re-usable vape kits and e-liquids, but is not licensed to sell vapes containing nicotine, which can only be bought from a pharmacy with a prescription.
Mr Oakley started his business six years ago after quitting smoking by switching to vaping, and said a lot of the focus of his business was on setting other smokers up on a similar trajectory.
He said the sale of disposable vaping devices to minors was concerning.
"They're pre-filled with high-strength nicotine.
"Disposable devices, where they don't have to charge them, they don't have to fill them up, they just open up the packet, they're pretty stealthy, which means that the kids can get them around everywhere.
"Normally the companies that are bringing them into the country, they're not even labelled with nicotine on them, which is how they get them through the border."
Ms Rose agreed that from what she had seen, disposables were the main issue.
"A few get the USB-rechargeable vapes but then they need to source the liquid when they run out, which they seem to find harder than sourcing a disposable."
Health risks for kids 'horrible'
Mr Oakley said the health risks of nicotine vapes for children were "horrible" and not enough enforcement was happening.
"We constantly are fighting a battle with local health departments about who's actually going to go out and enforce these laws that are in place," he said.
"We have constantly given information to local health departments about which shops are selling to minors, which shops are actually selling nicotine, and not much gets done.
"I tested it myself. Last week, I went to two convenience stores and bought some devices — nowhere on there was a display that there was nicotine [in them] and I felt sick after using it for an hour.
Ms Rose said the children referred to her were drawn to vaping because it was seen as trendy and safe, but she said the health risks were high.
"Nicotine is the main substance in the liquid and it's highly addictive, very easy and quick to form that dependence.
"The liquid has certain chemicals, different flavours have different chemicals; those chemicals form a gas and we don't know the long-term effects of that.
"There are hundreds of chemicals in these liquids and we don't know in 20 or 30 years' time what these chemicals will do."
