Stricter vaping laws: Australia restricts e-cigarette sales to medical stores

Australia has become the first country in the world to ban the sale of e-cigarettes, also known as vape, outside of medical stores.

Under the new rules, vapes will only be sold in plain colors and packs from July 1. They cannot be locally produced or advertised.

The law will effectively ban the supply, manufacture, importation, possession or sale of vape in any place other than a pharmacy. The ban will also apply to vaping devices that do not contain nicotine.

Australians will now have to show a prescription to buy a vape, but they won’t be able to buy e-cigarettes in most of the flavors popular with young people. For example ‘bubble gum.’

The Australian government said in a statement last week that medical vaping products would be placed on the other side of the counter. The amount of nicotine in a product and how much it can be sold will be strictly controlled. Like any medicine, the e-cigarette’s packet will be plain and the flavors will be limited to tobacco, menthol and mint.’

‘Pharmacists will look at the photo ID and discuss the health risks of vaping with the customer.’

“We are intensifying our efforts against the illegal sale of nicotine products by appointing an Illegal Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner.”

The new laws aim to return vapes to their intended purpose of helping people quit smoking.

Health Minister Mark Butler has warned that stores or tobacconists caught selling vape could be fined up to A$2 million (US$1.5 million) and the owners jailed for up to seven years. May be.

‘The best time to do this was five years ago. It’s the second best time.’

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Australia plans to create a new government role called the Illicit Tobacco and E-Cigarette Commissioner to crack down on the black market sale of vapes. The country will review the effectiveness of the new laws in three years.

Pharmacists’ organization The Pharmacy Guild of Australia does not seem happy with the new rules as it still has no guidelines for the sale of ‘unregulated substances that have no proven health benefits’. Rules do not exist.

The guild said in a statement last week: ‘How can a pharmacist make a good decision when we know nothing about the long-term patient safety impact of vapes?’

In a survey last year, one in five 18- to 24-year-olds in Australia reported using vape at least once.

The government says the new laws aim to ‘protect young Australians and the wider community from the harms of recreational vaping.’

Butler said: ‘Recreational vaping is a curse. It is a threat to people’s health, especially children and young people.’

A product that was introduced as a treatment that would help smokers finally kick the habit was actually used by tobacco company Big Tobacco as a tool to get a new generation addicted to nicotine. Used on.’