News item | 12-05-2025 | 07:00
New government campaign calls on parents to talk to children in time about harmful consequences of vapen
Vapen is not only toxic, it also disrupts the development of the brain and is super fast addictive. Research among 12 to 16-year-olds, conducted by Motivaction on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), shows that more than a quarter of them have already won. Of the 12 year olds, that is almost one in ten. Almost one in three young people aged 12 to 16 who vapen does that daily. Today the new national information campaign ‘No, against Vapen’ starts. The campaign is aimed at informing parents about the harmfulness of Vapen, talking about it in time with their children and to say no to Vapen together. The campaign is part of the action plan against Vapen of State Secretary Vincent Karremans (Youth, Prevention and Sport).
State Secretary Vincent Karremans: “The fact that 1 in 10 children aged 12 years has already broke, makes it very clear how serious the problem is. Vapes often contains a lot of nicotine, sometimes even up to 400 times the amount of nicotine of a cigarette. Nicotine is the most offensive drug after heroin. Talking about time with their children and saying no to Vapen.
Other striking research results:
- 1 in 7 (14%) young people indicate that if they are offered a vape, it is difficult to say no.
- 1 in 6 young people (16%) indicates that they sometimes feel under pressure to vapen.
Many young people experience vapeverlaving
The fact that Vapen is addictive is confirmed in the Motivaction study commissioned by VWS. Of the vapende 12 to 16-year-olds in this study, 38 percent say they are addicted to Vapen.
“Young people become super fast addicted to Vapen, without realizing it themselves,” says Prof. dr. Dr. Arnt Schellekens, National Rapporteur Addictions and professor of addiction and psychiatry at Radboudumc. “The brains of young people react stronger to reward than that of adults, which makes them less resilient to the temptation and then become addicted faster and more violently.”
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Parents play a crucial role in campaign ‘No against Vapen’
In the image above, the approximately 20,000 (1 in 10) twelve -year -old children who have ever breathe in the Malieveld in The Hague are visually displayed. The virtually filled Malieveld shows the size of the problem. The campaign calls on parents to inform itself about the harmful consequences of Vapen and encourages them to talk to their child about vapen on time with the help of concrete tools.
State Secretary Karremans: “For many parents, VAPES wrongly have an image that they are less harmful than cigarettes. We have to help that together as quickly as possible. We know from research that as a parent you can play a crucial role to prevent your child from starting with vapen. You really have more influence than you might think.” Look for tips on neetegenvapen.nl
Action plan against Vapen
The information campaign is part of a broader action plan against Vapen that State Secretary Karremans presented in mid -March. The plan focuses on three tracks: combating illegal trade, preventing young people from starting vapen, and stopping vapen stimulating and supporting vapers. The action plan includes extra powers and extra money for the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority to combat growing illegal trade.
About the campaign ‘No to Vapen’
The campaign can be seen and heard online on radio from 12 May. Parents get tools at Neetegenvapen.nl about how you can talk best about vapen with your child. As part of the campaign, parents can participate in a national online parents’ evening after the summer vacation led by experts and educators.
About Minecraft (GeoCraft)
GeoCraft is an educational Minecraft project in which the whole of the Netherlands has been recreated in the popular Game Minecraft. The project was set up by Geofort, in collaboration with organizations such as the VU University Amsterdam and Rijkswaterstaat with the help of geographical data, a virtual version of the Netherlands has been created that consists of around 1,000 billion Minecraft blocks. Everyone can visit the ‘no against vapen’ environment in Geocrraft.