A new way to stop vaping has been introduced
From next year, a new vow will be added to the Confirmation pledge, one that hopes to prevent the use of vapes.
Typically made at the ages of 12-13, the Irish Bishops’ Drugs Initiative Confirmation Pledge is made to abstain from alcohol and drugs.
Now, vaping has been added to the pledge to reduce the number of people partaking in it.
According to reports, Bishop Michael Router said that this Confirmation pledge has grown in popularity.
“With vaping becoming increasingly popular among young people and posing serious health risks,” he told the Irish Mail.
“There was a clear need to address this growing issue directly.”
The chairman of the Council for Healthcare of the Bishops’ Conference also added that the pledges differ across different generations:
“In the past two years, IBDI has been regularly invited to speak in classrooms about vaping.”
“We are in the midst of a vaping epidemic, and currently in Ireland, vapes containing a synthetic cannabinoid called Hexahydrocannabinoid are legally sold.”
“There’s been an explosion of legal cannabis-like substances in vapes and edibles posing intense psychosis risks and causing serious issues.”
Vaping has become extremely popular across all age groups, but especially among young people.
Children as young as ten in Ireland are taking up the habit.
Vapes were initially developed as a way of helping smokers quit, but youngsters are vaping without ever having smoked.
This is thought to be down to the sweet flavours some vapes have and their colourful marketing.
Vaping hasn’t been around long enough for experts to properly work out the long-term health risks of regular vaping.
With this new pledge, the Church of Ireland hopes that vape use will be cut significantly, for the sake of young people’s health.
