Australia's first vaping cessation clinic

Professor Renee Bittoun started Australia's first smokers' clinic 40 years ago – and now she has established the first centre to treat vaping addiction.

The Vaping Cessation Clinic at Ramsay Clinic Northside in Sydney aims to help people of all ages at all stages of addiction but Prof Bittoun is especially concerned by the high uptake of younger generations.

"The use of vapes has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly among young people," she said.

"Marketing campaigns often target teenagers and young people, hoping to get them addicted for life."

Prof Bittoun said children as young as 12 years old were seeking help to quit vaping.

"Products have even been renamed to sound more appealing. They've phased out the use of 'e-cigarette', in favour of 'vapes' which gives this impression that it's safe, that it might be water vapor," she said.

The Federal Government has recently introduced reforms to regulations for vaping products, which were initially promoted as a healthier alternative to smoking tobacco.

"Unfortunately we know that almost all of them contain nicotine, which when inhaled into the lungs can dramatically affect the developing brain," Prof Bittoun said.

"The younger you are when you start your exposure to nicotine, the harder it is to quit."

The Northside clinic is part of the mental health division of Australia's largest private hospitals operator, Ramsay Health Care.

Its vaping cessation program involves a minimum of six weekly one-on-one appointments.

Read more: First private mental health unit for teens in NSW

Read more: New mental health clinic 'invites the community in'

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