Youth Vaping and Vape Products Proximity to Schools
Map by: Darcy Reynard, former Graduate Research Assistant - GIS Analyst, Centre for Healthy Communities
Article by: Patricia Tallon, BSc, RD, Evaluator / Knowledge Mobilization Specialist, Centre for Healthy Communities
November 3, 2020
Environments where we live, work, play, and grow have the potential to influence health and well-being, particularly for young people. Wide access to and availability of products such as vaping devices, and their related marketing, is one example of a negative influence on health in our environments.
This map shows where junior high (grades 7-9) and high (grades 10-12) schools in Edmonton, are located in relation to stores where vaping products are sold. This includes vape shops, smoke shops, convenience stores, and other stores that sell vaping or tobacco products. The map uses data from two sources. The stores data was collected from the City of Edmonton’s Open Data Catalogue, specifically, the business licence database. Underlying the schools and stores data is a layer showing levels of socioeconomic deprivation in Edmonton. This layer was developed based on five variables calculated using data from Statistics Canada’s 2016 Census.
The map shows that vaping products are readily available throughout the City of Edmonton. In many cases, vaping products are highly available near schools, especially due to the abundance of convenience stores across the city. In fact, the mean Euclidian (or straight line) distance between a school to the closest vaping products store is 0.7 km. This distance is easily walkable. There also appears to be a correlation between the location of stores and areas of the city facing the greatest socio-economic challenges.
Across Canada, the use of vaping among youth is a growing – and significant – public health concern. According to 2018-2019 data, almost 48% of Grade 10-12 students in Alberta reported having ever tried e-cigarettes. Further, a 2020 study1 found that while most Canadian adolescents had not purchased vaping products in the past 12-months, more had purchased from vape shops or retail locations than online or other sources. The 2018/90 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs (CSTAD) survey showed that 54% of all students thought it would be "fairly easy" or "very easy" to get an e-cigarette with nicotine if they wanted one, and 58% thought it would be “fairly easy” or “very easy” to get an e-cigarette without nicotine if they wanted one. From a public health perspective, visualizing the availability of vaping products across the city can help to inform strategies and regulations to prevent youth vaping use.
Some limitations in the data were experienced while developing this map. The City of Edmonton uses broad categories in the business licence database and they are applied inconsistently. This makes it very difficult to extract every store that sells tobacco and, as a result, stores selling vaping products are likely underrepresented on the map. In other words, the problem is likely worse than what can be seen in this map.
It is important to acknowledge the wide-spread availability of vaping products across Edmonton and their close proximity to schools. To protect the health of youth, it is imperative that municipal planning, education, and public health sectors work together to create the conditions that positively influence health and apply strategies in a way that promotes equal opportunities for health.
References
- Braak, D., Cummings, M., Nahhas, G.J., Reid, J. L., Hammond, D. (2020). How are adolescents getting their vaping products? Findings from the international tobacco control (ITC) youth tobacco and vaping survey. Addictive Behaviors, 105 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106345