Law change unhelpful

In my experience as a teacher and later relieving teacher in several secondary schools, cigarette smoking has been virtually eliminated at schools. Schools have achieved this by tapping into widespread community support from the anti-smoking legislation, smokefree advertising, price rises and concealment of tobacco at points of sale. Kids got the message that smokers are losers, and gave it away.

Not so for vaping. The messages about vaping are at best mixed, if not ambiguous, and their attractive packaging, bubblegum vapours, and ready availability play into children’s experimentation and peer pressure influences. Vaping, like tobacco, is a community problem brought into schools and without active community support of the anti-smoking kind, schools cannot solve the problem alone.

Sadly, I do not see the current coalition of ex-tobacco lobbyists, free speech evangelists, and deregulation disciples doing anything helpful in this matter.

Hamish Duncan, Avalon

We welcome letters to the editor, which should be sent to letters@thepost.co.nz or PO Box 1297, Wellington 6040. They should include the writer’s full name, home address and contact phone number; should not exceed 200 words, and be exclusive. In keeping with Stuff’s editorial commitments, we will reject or edit letters that are discriminatory or express prejudice on the basis of race, ethnicity, country of origin, gender, sexuality,religion or disability. Letters may be edited for clarity.

The Post is subject to the NZ Media Council. Complaints must be directed to editor@thepost.co.nz. If the complainant is unsatisfied with the response, the complaint may be referred to the Media Council, go to mediacouncil.org.nz for more details.

Here is being creative. Tell Reading to take a running jump, demolish the building and put a car park there instead. This would only cost a fraction of $32 million, take a fraction of the time to implement and the retailers would love you for it. I would rather have a car park than another cinema, three fast food outlets and another bar or two. We have enough of these already. A car park is far more useful. Jim McLaughlin, Island Bay

Letters

Media Council

Smokefree legislation helped almost eradicate cigarette smoking from schools, writes one correspondent.