The debate continues as to whether pharmacies should stock these products...
Whether we do or don't, however, many "pop up" shops are now springing up in city centres with quite aggressive marketing (see the picture I took on a recent trip to Leeds) and "vaping" is becoming more and more main-stream. I was at the theatre a couple of weeks ago and the person next to me was sucking on an e-cigarette during the performance. I've seen people in pubs reach for e-cigarettes and e-cigars. I've even heard of e-pipes!
Why is this happening? Well, e-cigarettes are neither medicines nor tobacco products so restrictions on supply don't apply and advertising is aggressive...they also seem to be popular with younger smokers with all the different flavours available for vaping.
At the last LPC we had an interesting presentation about e-cigarettes and it turns out that the evidence shows that 71% of people who use these products are attempting to quit smoking, but 2/3 of users stop within a month and return to smoking...perhaps because they don't deliver nicotine at the same rate as cigarettes?
As they are battery operated devices, when the battery runs down - the rate of delivery reduces. Indeed - this is one of he reasons why it is so difficult to manufacture a licensed product!
So, if many vaping individuals are giving up vaping, are e-cigarette users an opportunity for Pharmacy?
Yes, I believe this is true.
We should be advising users of e-cigarettes (vapers) that when they stop using them, pharmacies offer smoking cessation clinics where expert advice combined with supply of licensed nicotine products can really help smokers to quit!
Johnson & Johnson have produced some useful flow charts to help pharmacy staff as well as poster. You can see these by clicking here where you will be able to rode some to be sent to you.
Whether we do or don't, however, many "pop up" shops are now springing up in city centres with quite aggressive marketing (see the picture I took on a recent trip to Leeds) and "vaping" is becoming more and more main-stream. I was at the theatre a couple of weeks ago and the person next to me was sucking on an e-cigarette during the performance. I've seen people in pubs reach for e-cigarettes and e-cigars. I've even heard of e-pipes!
Why is this happening? Well, e-cigarettes are neither medicines nor tobacco products so restrictions on supply don't apply and advertising is aggressive...they also seem to be popular with younger smokers with all the different flavours available for vaping.
At the last LPC we had an interesting presentation about e-cigarettes and it turns out that the evidence shows that 71% of people who use these products are attempting to quit smoking, but 2/3 of users stop within a month and return to smoking...perhaps because they don't deliver nicotine at the same rate as cigarettes?
As they are battery operated devices, when the battery runs down - the rate of delivery reduces. Indeed - this is one of he reasons why it is so difficult to manufacture a licensed product!
So, if many vaping individuals are giving up vaping, are e-cigarette users an opportunity for Pharmacy?
Yes, I believe this is true.
We should be advising users of e-cigarettes (vapers) that when they stop using them, pharmacies offer smoking cessation clinics where expert advice combined with supply of licensed nicotine products can really help smokers to quit!
Johnson & Johnson have produced some useful flow charts to help pharmacy staff as well as poster. You can see these by clicking here where you will be able to rode some to be sent to you.
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