Young Australians share stories of vaping addiction in new campaign by Minderoo Foundation

But a few months later he noticed he couldn't go a day without an e-cigarette. Then he needed one every hour or two.

"I couldn't really focus. I was just thinking about nicotine and like I could feel my body craving it," he said.

When he moved to Canberra for university at the start of this year, Croz decided to quit vaping. He was sick of feeling constantly under the weather and realised vaping wasn't the stress relief he thought it was.

"I could feel my throat get irritated and closed off and I'd get wheezy when I would vape and I was just sick of being sick, of feeling like I was like sick and not my best self all the time.

"So I quit for my physical health mainly and also my mental health has improved a lot since I've stopped vaping."

Croz is part of a new multi-million dollar anti-vaping campaign, called Uncloud, backed by the Minderoo Foundation.

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The charity conducted a study into the attitudes and behaviours of 2500 Australians aged 14 to 25. The study, conducted in July 2022 and 2023, found half a million young people - one in 10 - were vaping every day.

Three in 10 young people had vaped in the last 30 days, four in 10 young vapers felt addicted and six in 10 young vapers wanted to stop vaping.

Three-quarters of respondents believed vaping was common among their peers, but only 32 per cent had actually vaped in the last 30 days and half said they had never vaped.

Minderoo Foundation cancer mission director Professor Claire Wakefield said an extra 100,000 young people had started vaping in the past 12 months.

Researchers heard that young people were curious about the devices which come in attractive colours and flavours, and they were swayed by peer pressure.

"One of the messages we're really keen to promote in the campaign is that although lots of young people are vaping, it's still not the norm so it's okay to say 'no'. You're going to be in the majority."

As a psychologist, Professor Wakefield was most concerned about the rise in young vapers who felt addicted to e-cigarettes, which contain a cocktail of chemicals and nicotine.

"One of the young people in the campaign shared that anxiety he felt when he couldn't find his vape to the point that he flipped his entire room looking for a vape because he'd woken up and it wasn't there and he would like to vape ... as soon as he wakes up.

"Other young people [were] sharing that it wakes them up in the middle of the night, that the craving is that strong."

The campaign features TikTok and Instagram-friendly videos of young Australians sharing stories of their own vaping additions or those of their friends.

Sydney-based university student Ethan, 18, decided to never start vaping because of a history of lung cancer in his family and warnings from his mother.

"Some people I've talked to go on holidays with their family and the first thing they say to you when they get back is how hard it was to go without a vape for like a couple of days," he said.

Ethan felt young people would be able to relate to the ad campaign, which has already started flooding the social media feeds of 15- to 25-year-olds.

"From the videos we we look really approachable and the way we're talking about it seems sincere and I feel like people can really get the message from what we're saying."

As Croz went through withdrawal symptoms, he imagined his addiction to be a creature that was dying inside of him.

"As someone who vaped, it's not worth it. Don't pick it up," he said.

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