Reasons for stopping e-cigarette use among smokers: findings from the 2018 ITC New Zealand Survey

There has been extensive debate about whether vaping products such as electronic cigarettes (ECs) will reduce smoking prevalence, and over what kind of regulatory framework would best promote such an outcome.12 In August 2020, the New Zealand Parliament passed the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act that introduced a new regulatory framework for ECs.3 This framework will be completed by supporting regulations such as those relating to packaging, warning labels, and the nicotine concentration of e-liquids, cartridges and devices. For some, ECs did not replicate the desired attributes and pleasurable experiences provided by smoking.89 Quantitative data on the frequency of attitudes and beliefs that may impede switching from smoking to vaping (or promote smoking relapse) could inform the development of regulations, refinements of policy frameworks, and the implementation of educational interventions to maximise EC use as aids to quitting or as substitutes for smoking. [...]research on experiences with EC use needs to be ongoing and report the most recent data possible. Acknowledgements: The ITC NZ Study team thank: the interviewees who kindly contributed their time; the Ministry of Health NZ who provided access to the New Zealand Health Survey participants who had agreed to be contacted about further research; to the Research NZ team who carried out data collection; and to the data management team and others in the International Tobacco Control Project led by the University of Waterloo.