E-cigarettes could make former smokers even more addicted to nicotine, a drug expert has said.
Adam Winstock, a consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical professor at University College London, said people may not realise how much nicotine they are inhaling.
Someone who once limited the amount of cigarettes they had per day may now puff on their nicotine-infused e-cigarette constantly.
Professor Winstock said people should focus on becoming totally free from the highly-addictive substance rather than switching to a ‘substitute’ form of smoking.
He also said quit smoking services should be extended to those who are struggling to quit vaping.
E-cigarettes could make former smokers even more addicted to nicotine, an expert has said
Professor Winstock said: ‘While most other forms of nicotine replacement were designed as a transition from using nicotine to not using nicotine, I think for some people vaping devices simply become a substitute.
‘And because effectively you are delivering more nicotine when you are vaping and there isn’t that same easy way of knowing how many vapes you’ve had a day compared to cigarettes, I think there will be some people who will continue, and possibly escalate, their nicotine dependence.
‘Is that a problem? It’s better than smoking. But I think people who switch should have at the back of their mind that their transition to vaping should be considered temporary, anywhere from a month to six months.’
Vaping is significantly less harmful than cigarettes because it doesn’t contain the harmful chemicals tar or carbon monoxide.
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Some 3.6million people in the UK are vaping, research by the charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) found.
At the same time, figures show an accelerated drop in smoking rates, currently at a record low of 14.9 per cent in England.
More than half of vapers have quit using tobacco products completely, according to Public Health England.
The government body, which aims to improve the nation’s health, say e-cigarettes are twice as effective at helping smokers to quit compared with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).
But Professor Winstock stressed the importance of quitting altogether as a ‘secondary goal’ to quitting tobacco.
He believes manufacturers should design products that make it easier for vapers to track how much they are consuming.
For example, a vape device could beep when the user has inhaled the equivalent of a traditional cigarette.
Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that is difficult for a person to wean themselves off, causing withdrawal symptoms.
Professor Winstock said in an ideal world, people would be given the same support and advice as smokers who turn to the NHS for help quitting cigarettes.
But with reduced funding for stop smoking services, he can understand why health professionals would want to prioritise tobacco users.
He said: ‘I think people who are finding it difficult to reduce use of their vape should be offered the same access and advice, which ultimately is going to be switching to a non-inhalable form of nicotine replacement.
‘I don’t think because you switch, your journey is over. It’s about reminding people that the primary goal is don’t return to smoking but your secondary goal for both health, psychological and financial reasons should be to come off altogether.’
While PHE have thrown their weight behind e-cigarettes, other experts have warned a ‘generation of nicotine addicts’ is on the horizon.
Rising numbers of youngsters who may never have picked up a traditional cigarette are experimenting with vaping instead, drawn in by the flavours.
Whatever anti-smoking and public health officials in Britain say about the virtues of e-cigarettes, the US has suffered grave effects from vaping.
Vaping-related lung injuries have killed 54 Americans and sent more than 2,500 people to the hospital, figures show.
Although the UK has some of the strictest regulation for e-cigarettes in the world, there have been a number of worrying cases.
Last month Ewan Fisher, 19, from Nottingham, told how he almost died in May 2017 from serious respiratory failure after vaping.
The Global Drug Survey, run by Professor Winstock, is examining vaping habits.
British schoolboy, 16, who suffered allergic reaction to his e-cigarette fluid was placed on life support after his organs failed
Ewan Fisher, now 19, was rushed to A&E in May 2017 after vomiting a neon green liquid and gasping for breath just four months after taking up e-cigarettes.
He had to be hooked up to life support in intensive care when his vital organs failed and an artificial lung was needed to pump oxygen through his body.
The teenager, from Nottingham, is believed to have suffered an exaggerated immune response to chemicals found in e-cigarette fluid.
He was diagnosed with hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), which sees the air sacs and airways in the lungs become severely inflamed.
Ewan Fisher, 19, had to be hooked up to life support and almost died from serious respiratory failure triggered by vaping
The condition is triggered by an allergic reaction to inhaled dust, fungus, moulds or chemicals.
The tale was revealed by Nottingham University Hospitals Trust doctors in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Case Reports.
The teenager revealed he stopped smoking a half pack of cigarettes a day at 16 because he wanted to focus on his boxing training.
He switched to puffing on two sweet-flavoured e-liquids around 14 times a day. But by May 2017, he gave them up too after developing a nasty cough.
Just days later he vomited a bright green liquid and was rushed to hospital by his panicked mother.
The life support saved him but he was in hospital for a month and did not fully recover for more than a year.
