From page 1 // Vape problem at high schools

something we want to spend our time doing but, obviously, we are required to keep them [students] safe and it is very timeconsuming,’’ Whyte said.

Queen Charlotte College reached out to Smokefree Nelson-marlborough Public Health, which works alongside schools to raise awareness of vaping.

Smokefree practitioner Cynthia de Joux said it was important for students to understand the marketing around cigarettes.

‘‘We show them how it works, how they are luring them, what they look at, how it taps in on the basic senses of what they see, what they smell and what they taste. It is really clever.

‘‘It is the same as any new device, anything new and fancy that turns into something that can potentially be a problem, and nobody had any background or any education in it.’’

De Joux said it was also important to debunk some myths about e-cigarettes.

‘‘There is this preconceived idea that it is way better to take up vaping than to take up smoking.

‘‘It still has its effects and we are not entirely sure what all of them are, and we may never find out until another few more years down the track.

‘‘Once the impact starts to take hold, we are aware of the fact of how addictive nicotine is,’’ de Joux said.

There are three vape stores in the Blenheim town centre – Shosha, Hot Boxx and Vape2go – and one in Picton.

‘‘We had no vape shops in this [region] for the past eight years and in the past 18 months we had four.

‘‘As soon as the legislation started to come into place these things popped up everywhere, and nobody questioned it and nobody challenged it, and it is all directed at young purchasing,’’ de Joux said.

In 2020, a new law banned sales of vapes to under-18s, and banned advertising by vape/e-cigarette retailers, manufacturers and importers, bringing it closer in line with tobacco law.

Retailer fines for selling tobacco products to minors could reach up to $10,000.

Nearly 85% of New Zealanders are smoke-free, according to Ministry of Health figures.

The New Zealand Government has a goal that by 2025 fewer than 5% of New Zealanders will be smokers.

For more information visit the Ministry of Health vaping website and resources are available for schools on the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board website.

Work on a new multimillion-dollar ferry terminal in Picton that can cater for new, larger, greener ferries is officially under way.

‘‘Enabling works’’ at Picton’s ferry terminal will be undertaken before Christmas, so major construction on the new terminal can start next year.

New Interislander ferries are expected to make it to the shores of Aotearoa by 2025 and 2026. Terminal upgrades in both Picton and Wellington are needed to accommodate them, in an estimated $1.45 billion infrastructure project.

A special event on Saturday – attended by Marlborough mayor John Leggett and councillors, MP Stuart Smith and other key stakeholders - was held to celebrate the start of the enabling works.

Inter-island Resilient Connection (irex) programme director Stephen O’keefe said that while there was still a lot of work to do, it was exciting to gather and see the ‘‘real work’’ start. ‘‘It was a shovel ready project. When I think of shovel ready, I think of a few weeks ago when we had a blessing ceremony here at Waitohi to protect the site.

‘‘I think we were shovel ready, but the whenua was not shovel ready, the ground was pretty cold. But we attacked that ground and now the ground is really, truly ready.’’ O’keefe said the enabling works, to be completed this year, included moving the rail turntable further away from the site, upgrades to the Waitohi culvert for stormwater drainage improvements, building a temporary terminal and some ‘‘preparation’’ at Dublin St. The current terminal would be demolished next year, to allow for the new one and the wharf to be built.

After his speech, O’keefe said it was really the ‘‘proper start’’ of the project. ‘‘We have been designing and doing concepts for three years, and now we are ready to start.

‘‘We have got to get certain things done before Christmas, so that we can start the major construction in the new year.’’

He said ‘‘you could do all the talk’’ and show lots of pretty pictures of the design, but Saturday’s event showed ‘‘it is really happening’’.

O’keefe said the ‘‘technical design process’’ had started for the new ferries and the Kiwirail ships team had been to Korea to meet the people who