The Australian Senate does able to pass the bill this implies the top of all vape sales – no matter nicotine content – from retailers. From July 1, nicotine-free vaporizers will now not be allowed for sale outside pharmacies.
But late amendments to the bill, negotiated by the Greens, change the best way people access vaporizers in the long run. Once the bill is passed – and for the primary three months – people will need a prescription from a doctor to access vaporizers at their local pharmacy.
Then, from October 1, 2024, individuals who wish to use a vaporizer for therapeutic purposes will now not need a prescription. Instead, they will be in a position to buy a vaporizer directly from a pharmacy. Vaping products will be kept behind the counter and may only be purchased with ID proving users are 18 years or older.
Vapes sold in pharmacies will be subject to quality and product standards, including plain packaging, maximum nicotine concentration levels, and will proceed to be available in mint/menthol and tobacco only.
It is disappointing that the prescription requirement has been removed. This weakens control over a highly addictive and dangerous product.
Bill enjoyed broad support from the general public health sector and was based on evidence and research showing that stopping easy accessibility to vaporizers is important to protecting the health of young people.
At the identical time, the amended law is a clear improvement on the present situation in which vaping retailers have saturated communities, including near schools.
Still, this uniquely Australian approach to regulating vaping is a world first. The clear message is that vaping products cannot be sold as a consumer good for recreational purposes. Instead, they’re a highly regulated therapeutic product, available only under strict conditions.
The law doesn’t criminalize individual vaporizer users, as a substitute providing harsh penalties for sellers of illegal vaporizers. Any retailer found illegally selling vapes from July 1 will face stiff fines and will face jail time.
Haven’t the laws on vaping modified yet?
Vape reform is already underway. From March 2024, the federal government has banned the import of all non-medicinal vaporizers into Australia.
People who wish to use nicotine vaporizers (to quit smoking or to turn out to be hooked on nicotine) can access therapeutic vaporizers in pharmacies, with a prescription from a health care skilled, in tobacco or mint/menthol flavor.
However, retail sales of all “non-nicotine” flavored vaporizers remained legal. This meant that gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops could simply claim to sell “nicotine-free” vapes.
This long-standing loophole in vaping regulations allowed teenagers easy accessibility to inexpensive, flavored, disposable vaporizers with high nicotine concentration. Enforcing this distinction between nicotine and non-nicotine vaporizers requires extensive and expensive laboratory tests, which have proven to be unfeasible.
This loophole has caused a dramatic increase in the variety of young people vaping. In 2019, only 9.6% of 14-17 yr olds in Australia had ever used a vape. This almost 3 times by 2022-23 to twenty-eight%.
This also meant a proliferation of outlets openly selling illegal vaping products across Australia. The large volume of vaping products imported into Australia before import regulations were introduced means illegal sales can proceed for years.
What’s next?
Some vaping advocates argue that each one e-cigarettes, including those containing nicotine, should be sold “like tobacco products.”
However, the amended draft law doesn’t ensure this he bowed to the pressure of this industry. Vaporizers containing nicotine have never been legal for sale as “consumer goods” in general retail stores equivalent to convenience stores, gas stations and tobacconists. Nicotine is there classified as a scheduled poisonmeaning that manufacturers cannot simply add nicotine to consumer products equivalent to candy, soft drinks or mints after which sell them in stores.
Making vaporizers available as a consumer good would mean a wholesale change to the best way Australia regulates dangerous and addictive poisons like nicotine.
Despite the announced success in the fight against tobacco smoking, smoking still kills 20,500 Australians yearly. Imagine if in the Nineteen Fifties, when research confirmed that smoking was each deadly and addictive, regulators would have chosen to tug the product from shelves as a substitute?
We now have a likelihood to forestall a whole latest generation from becoming hooked on nicotine. Going forward, it’s important to mix revised laws with effective monitoring and enforcement to make sure the protection of young people.