New doc reveals how vaping has reached ‘epidemic' proportions in school

Sunday World

19-05-2025

'We had one incident where two students' heart rates increased to the point where they became unconscious'
Pupils are being found unconscious at educational establishments because of a growing vaping 'epidemic', according to a representative of a school principals' body.
'We had one incident where two students' heart rates increased to the point where they became unconscious,' reveals Paul Crone, director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD).
'Nobody knew what they had taken. Nobody knew. They were just found unconscious in the school toilets.
'Record numbers of them are taking up vaping — I would say it's at epidemic proportions.'
Mr Crone is one of several people interviewed as part of Virgin Media's Vaping Nation documentary.
An increasing number of Irish school children are vaping
'About two to three years ago we really started to notice the incidence of vaping was increasing hugely in schools and over a short period of time it became epidemic level in schools and it became the biggest issue that schools had to deal with,' he explains.
'When initially you saw it with the senior students, the fifth– and sixth-years, but it slowly began to creep back into the third-years and the second-years, so it became younger and younger students were involving themselves and getting involved in vaping.
An increasing number of Irish school children are vaping
News in 90 Seconds - May 19th
'Traditionally, we would have seen senior cycle students would have taken up smoking as they get a little bit older, but vaping became so easy and so popular, and they viewed it as part of their socialisation.
'As school leaders we thought we had beaten smoking. We had seen a significant drop in the number of students smoking — it was not popular to be smoking.'
In Ireland, one in every 12 people use vapes or e-cigarettes, a figure that rises among young people.
Paul Crone
The Vaping Nation documentary — presented by Virgin Media reported Mairéad Carey — features other frontline voices including healthcare professionals, educators, and addiction specialists who are witnessing the impact of vaping on under-18s.
Mr Crone maintains students are taking measures to disguise what they're up to.
'There is a lot of students that would hide it, and I know I've spoken to school principals who would confiscate vapes off students and they'd call the parents and the parents would deny that their child was vaping, only the evidence was there in front of them,' he says.
'So, students are hiding it from their parents, they're hiding it from their teachers. Now if a student was smoking, or an adult was smoking, you can smell it off their breath, you can smell it off their clothes. There is no smell off the vapes, or if there is it's the smell of a bubblegum or a sweet, or a perfume you'd expect to smell.'
Mr Crone confirms students don't realise the impact of the habit.
'At 14, 15, 16 years of age we all thought we were invincible back then,' he reflects.
'They don't see any immediate impact. The immediate impact they can feel would be the hit that they would get that would give them a little bit of energy from the nicotine, but equally as that addiction kicks in students will start to notice irritability, anxiety, little bits of aggression keeping in, lack of concentration, students just not being focused on the task at hand and having a reduced concentration span, and that becomes much worse as students try to wean off the nicotine addiction.
'Parents might notice that at home that they're [children] not sleeping well, they're waking up tired, it's hard to get them out of bed in the morning, that they don't follow through on their actions, and we're seeing all of that in schools.
'The big fear is that they are doing themselves the damage that they're not going to reach their potential.
'But there would be a genuine belief among teachers that it is having a significant impact on students and it is contributing to potentially students underperforming in state exams.'
He stresses that many experts still don't know exactly what people are inhaling.
'There is a fear that we don't know what's in the vape,' says Mr Crone.
'We assume its nicotine, or tobacco, or whatever it is, but there are increasing reports that HHC or CBD oil are in the vapers, so we have had a number of critical incidents in schools.'
Professor Bobby Smyth, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist with the HSE Addiction Services, says: 'If you asked me two years ago, I would have said 'what is HHC?' and at this point it's part of the picture in about a quarter of cases.'
The programme also explores how the tobacco industry has responded to this relatively new trend, with critics warning of familiar marketing tactics aimed at young consumers.