When You Find a Vape

Where to start

• Ask how often she vapes and where she gets them, before you decide anything.
• If she wants to stop, talk to the GP, a pharmacist or the school nurse.
• The GP, a pharmacist or the school nurse can help; some nicotine replacement products are licensed from age 12 for young people dependent on vaping.
• If she is selling vapes, or someone older is giving her vapes, money or a phone, someone may be exploiting her, and exploited children are victims first. Don’t confront the people involved yourself. Act that day: a national child protection helpline will talk it through with you and tell you whether it needs to go further. NSPCC, 0808 800 5000. Email help@nspcc.org.uk. Mon-Fri 10am-4pm by phone; email 11am-4pm, seven days a week. An email sent when the service is closed is not received. If the NSPCC service is closed and the concern cannot wait, call the police on 101. You can also contact the child’s local out-of-hours children’s social care, social work or social services team. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. Help is free.
• A vape from a friend, social media or an unofficial seller may not contain what it claims: the government has warned that so-called THC vapes, sold as cannabis, often contain dangerous synthetic cannabinoids, known as spice.
• If she collapses, or is very drowsy or hard to wake, confused, struggling to breathe or having a fit after using a vape, call an ambulance first. Call 999. Help is free and available at any hour.

The rest of the tip, with more to try and why it works, is in the library.

It goes with

• When They Stop Talking to You. For parents whose teenager hardly talks to them any more.
• The Conversations Parents Avoid. For parents who need to tell their child something hard and don’t know how to start.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full.

Free on this subject

• Behaviour. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.
• Difficult conversations. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.