Seeing P2 boy with HSA fine for vaping spurred SMU law student to create app for youth to quit habit
An SMU law student created ClearAir, an app to help youth quit vaping after seeing a Primary 2 boy fined for the habit.Summary
At a Meet-the-People Session in Tampines in 2025, a father brought his Primary 2 son, who had been fined by the Health Sciences Authority for vaping, to seek help filing an appeal. The scene shocked Joy Liew, 21, an SMU law student, who then created the ClearAir app with fellow law student Amber Tng, computer science student Anson Koh, and information systems student Lee Yi Terng. The app helps youth who have been caught vaping and want to quit by offering daily check-ins, financial goals, location-based reminders for trigger spots, and a "Craving SOS" button leading to distracting activities like games and former addicts' success stories. The project was one of five winning teams at the Access to Justice Community Co-Lab, each receiving $5,000. Other winners included See-Kaki, which uses an AI chatbot to guide visually impaired individuals through employment claims, and Spot It First, which educates youth on money mule scams. The projects were showcased at the launch of Law Awareness Weeks @ CDC (LAW@CDC) 2026 on Oct 3 at Our Tampines Hub, where Minister for Law Edwin Tong praised the students' fresh perspectives on access to justice.
(Source：The Straits Times)
