By Doug Mutter

IT’S been alarming to learn that Scotland continues to lose momentum in its ambitions to be smoke-free by 2034.

Data from Public Health Scotland has revealed that between 2018/19 and 2021/22, the number of attempts to stop dropped from 51,115 to 23,503.

That’s a shocking trend when we should be developing a progressive public health strategy that harnesses the opportunity of vaping as a key stop-smoking tool.

The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the nation’s health, however it has also triggered an increase in smoking rates, a problem compounded by cuts for NHS stop-smoking services.

With smoking rates and consumption on the rise, there is a danger that we’re sleepwalking into another health crisis with millions of smokers consigned to a premature death.

The latest figures suggest we have no plan and smoking will remain the nation’s number one killer.

The recent public consultation into the advertising and promotion of Nicotine Vapour Products presented an opportunity for Scotland to be brave and realise the potential of vaping.

A report from the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group backs vaping as an effective treatment for tobacco dependency and recommends that it should be included and encouraged in all treatment pathways. The report also found that the long-term impact of vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking cigarettes.

As the UK’s leading vaping specialist we have helped more than 700,000 adult smokers in the UK quit in the past decade. We have also responded to the smoke-free ambitions by implementing initiatives to help more people quit smoking, including our Vape Clinic service which offers adult smokers a personalised, one-to-one stop-smoking service.

We have aimed to engage with the Scottish Government’s health team ahead of and during the consultation to collaborate and help shape a meaningful strategy, however our attempts have fallen on deaf ears despite vaping continuing to be the most effective way for smokers to quit.

Sadly, we continue to lose ground in our goal create a smoke-free society.

Vaping, as highlighted in a commission by Dr Javed Khan, will be fundamental to us working towards a smoke-free generation and we now need a progressive approach where there is advertising to promote and educate on the health benefits of vaping.

It’s also vital that we have tighter controls and licensing for selling vaping products.

We currently face a challenge in the industry where hundreds of thousands imported, unregulated, disposable vaping products are readily available from local convenience stores and supermarkets with no regulation.

We are urging the Scottish Government to act now and implement measures where flavoured products can only be sold from specialist licensed vaping stores, where a Challenge 25 policy is in place and consultation is aimed towards adult smokers and vapers.

Scotland has always been a progressive nation, showing great bravery in 2004 by being the first UK nation to implement a ban in enclosed public spaces – now is the time to once again be pioneering in transforming the health of future generations.

Doug Mutter, VPZ director and board member