“It got more accessible for me, so I got addicted. Everyone around me was vaping at the time.”
Coco, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was 12 when she vaped for the first time. She’s now 15 and trying to quit.
“She was angry,” she said, as she smiled at her mother sitting nearby. “My phone was taken away from me.”
Coco had never brought the vapes home, but as she grew more used to the habit, she also wanted to vape after school.
“What attracted me to it was more the flavours like ‘Peach ice’ or ‘Lychee-grape’. You can find vapes inspired by video games, they come in bright colours and flavours like bubble gum and candy floss,” she said.