Christchurch City Council has today voted to include vaping in its Smokefree Public Places Policy.
According to a statement from the council, this means that parks, playgrounds, bus shelters and the entrances to council buildings and facilities will become both smokefree and vapefree.
“The Canterbury District Health Board has told us that vaping can be a useful tool to help people to quit smoking, but we don’t want to normalise vaping in shared spaces where people congregate,’’ says Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel.
“While vaping is considered less harmful than smoking, little is known about its long-term impacts. For the sake of our communities’ health and wellbeing we want to discourage vaping in public areas.
Vaping indoors is also banned at workplaces, restaurants, licensed premises and school grounds.
“The move to integrate vaping into our smokefree policy is supported by the health agencies in our city and by the majority of residents who responded to our 2018 residents’ survey,’’ the mayor says.
The move comes the day after new laws were introduced, making it illegal to sell vaping products to those under 18 and banning the advertisement and sponsorship of vaping products altogether.
Christchurch joins 15 other councils around the country which have also included vaping in their smokefree policies.
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