Singapore’s youth vaping crisis needs safer off-ramps

A vape doesn’t clang like a cigarette box. It doesn’t smell, stain your fingers, or force you to sneak out to the corridor. It hums quietly in a pencil case, a pocket, a tote bag. It clicks like a USB, lights up in pastel, and disappears before anyone sees.

And for a rising number of young people in Singapore, it’s just normal. A habit they didn’t exactly choose, but one they now rely on. The problem? Getting in was frictionless. Getting out isn’t.

In a city that prides itself on order and rules, vaping is a quiet rebellion wrapped in fruity mist—and a regulatory nightmare. But the real issue isn’t enforcement. It’s what happens when you want to stop. Singapore doesn’t have enough safe exits for youth addicted to vapes. And that silence? It’s doing more harm than the vapor ever did.

1. The Vape Age Is Younger Than You Think

Let’s drop the assumptions: most teen vapers didn’t set out to be “rebels.” Many started because someone passed it to them during a break. Because it felt less harsh than a cigarette. Because everyone in the group chat had one. Because it helped with stress.

Secondary school students, JC kids, NS recruits. You don’t have to look far. The Ministry of Health estimates over 800 teens were caught for vaping in 2022 alone, but that number doesn’t come close to the reality. TikTok tutorials, Telegram orders, overseas holidays—it’s all too easy.

And while the law is clear (no vaping, full stop), what’s missing is clarity on recovery. What does a 16-year-old do when they realize they’re hooked? What happens when a 20-year-old wants to quit but panics at the withdrawal? Right now, the answer is: figure it out yourself. And hide it while you do.

2. Quitting Feels Riskier Than Vaping

There’s something backwards about that. Most of Singapore’s youth anti-vape messaging focuses on scaring people out of starting. But there’s almost nothing for those already deep in it. Want to quit? You’re on your own—and probably terrified you’ll get reported.

If you go to a doctor, will they inform your parents? If you tell a school counselor, will it go on your record? If you try quitting cold turkey, will the anxiety get worse before it gets better? There’s no safety net—only silence and shame.

And that silence pushes teens further into hiding. They vape more discreetly. They lie to adults. They tell themselves they’re not really addicted. They wait for something worse to happen—coughing fits, chest pain, a panic attack—before they even consider stopping. The system right now doesn’t just criminalize vaping. It criminalizes the act of asking for help.

3. Vaping Is a Coping Ritual, Not Just a Habit

We need to talk about why youth vape in the first place. It’s not just peer pressure or curiosity. It’s coping.

Vaping offers a sense of control in a high-stakes environment. You can hit a pod between classes. You can ground yourself during a stressful family dinner. You can take a breath—literally—when everything feels like it’s spiraling. And for many teens and young adults, it works. Temporarily. The nicotine hits fast. The hand-to-mouth action soothes nerves. The flavors feel safe, not toxic.

But underneath the ritual is a dependency. Not just on the chemical—but on the emotional regulation it brings. Quitting vaping isn’t just about willpower. It’s about rebuilding a coping system from scratch. And if the only alternative offered is “stop or be punished,” you’ve replaced a ritual with a threat—not a solution.

4. The Shame Layer Is Thicker Than Smoke

Here’s what people don’t say out loud: it’s embarrassing to admit you vape. Especially if you’re a girl. Especially if you’re the first in your family to go to university. Especially if you’re the “good kid” who got a scholarship. The shame isn’t just about legality. It’s cultural. Vaping feels like failure. It looks like weakness. It’s not something you ask for help with—you just try to hide it better.

So teens use hand sanitiser to cover the smell. They vape into pillows at night. They quit quietly and relapse quietly. No one knows until the withdrawals show up: irritability, insomnia, anxiety.

We talk a lot about mental health in schools—but we still treat addiction like a character flaw. And when adults say “Just don’t start,” they miss the point. Most kids didn’t plan to start. They just didn’t know how to stop. Or where to turn once they wanted to.

5. Schools Are Policing, Not Supporting

Let’s be honest: most Singapore schools aren’t equipped to support vape addiction. They’re equipped to punish it.

Get caught? You might get suspended. You might lose your CCA leadership. You might get a call home. That’s not rehab. That’s reputation damage. The result is a deep mistrust of authority. Students keep secrets. Teachers look the other way. The message becomes: “Don’t get caught,” not “Get better.”

Imagine if schools treated vaping like they treat stress. Imagine vape cessation clinics that offered support without judgment. Imagine guidance counselors trained in addiction support, not just academic planning. Right now, schools are enforcing compliance. But they’re not offering care.

6. What Safe Could Actually Look Like

Safe doesn’t mean soft. It means smart. It means creating exit ramps instead of walls. It means designing systems that understand why people start, and how they can stop without shame.

That could look like:

• Anonymous support services, like text-based quit coaching, that don’t ask for ID.
• Youth-led support groups that offer peer mentoring, not adult lectures.
• Clinics with discreet walk-in hours, where help feels private and personal.
• Public campaigns that center empathy, not fear. That say “You’re not alone,” not “You’re a problem.”
• App-based check-ins that gamify the quitting process—think of Duolingo, but for dopamine resets.

It’s about creating a recovery culture that fits youth behavior. One that understands quitting is a process, not a punishment.

7. A Public Health Issue—Not a Moral Panic

We need to stop treating youth vaping like a headline scandal. It’s not a moral decay. It’s a public health challenge. Nicotine addiction affects the adolescent brain differently. It’s harder to quit when your neural circuits are still wiring up. That’s not a lack of discipline—it’s biology.

And let’s not pretend vaping is the only risky coping mechanism teens turn to. There’s binge-watching, binge-eating, self-harm, online numbing. Vaping just happens to leave a trace of mist. If we treat every health issue as a criminal one, we miss the opportunity to heal.

8. What the Silence Reveals About Us

The real discomfort in Singapore isn’t with vaping. It’s with vulnerability. We’re okay with stress—as long as it’s productive. We’re okay with habits—as long as they don’t break the law. But we’re not okay with admitting we don’t know how to cope.

So we keep pretending. We bury problems in policy. We tell young people to be resilient without giving them tools to rebuild when they fall. And vaping? It’s a quiet protest. A symptom of a system that teaches achievement but not emotional agility.

9. Culture Change Starts With Exit Design

Singapore has always been excellent at designing systems. MRTs run on time. Libraries are automated. CPF is a masterclass in public financial planning. But when it comes to emotional systems—especially youth ones—we still lag. If we can design cashless hawker stalls and smart lamp posts, we can design better quit-vaping ecosystems. Ones that use the same tech teens trust. Ones that let them be anonymous, awkward, imperfect, and still accepted.

We don’t need another ban. We need bridges. We need social rituals that replace the vape break with something else—stretch corners, breathing pods, call-in sick days that don’t require a doctor’s note but an emotional truth. We need to stop making quitting harder than addiction.

10. This Isn’t About Nicotine. It’s About Need.

At the heart of this isn’t a substance. It’s a need—for relief, for control, for calm. Young people are overwhelmed. They’re navigating exams, comparison culture, climate fear, economic pressure—and they’re doing it while being told to be fine.

Vaping steps in as a shortcut. It calms the nerves, smooths the edge, creates a pause. So when we talk about quitting, we need to ask: What need was it serving? And what are we offering instead? If we don’t answer that, we’re not helping them quit. We’re just making them hide.

Maybe the most radical thing we can do is make it okay to say: “I want to stop. But I don’t know how.”

No shame. No exposure. Just a way forward. Singapore’s youth don’t need scare campaigns. They need exits. They need to feel that their struggle is valid, their healing is welcome, and their future isn’t defined by a habit they picked up before they knew what it cost. Because the real danger isn’t vaping. It’s silence.