The Greens have cut a deal with the Australian Government to water down the impending vape ban, which would have placed heavy restrictions on the plastic e-cigarettes that target children and come in flavours such as ‘sugar cookie’ and ‘mango tango’.
It’s an interesting move for the party to relax laws governing an item that is often a single-use plastic and poses a huge waste disposal problem – and this can perhaps be attributed to an attempt to appease the party’s youthful vaping base.
Greens leader Adam Bandt invoked prohibition, saying that a complete ban wouldn’t work, conveniently skipping over the fact that making vapes ‘prescription only’ does not amount to a ban – and ignoring the enormous inroads governments have made in changing behaviours around smoking in the last 20 years.
No prescription required
The minor party agreed to help pass the government’s flagship health legislation as long as the requirement for vapes to be prescription-only was removed.
Under the new bill, which is set to be voted in parliament next week, pharmacists alone will be able to sell vapes over the counter (OTC) to anyone over 18.
The government’s original proposal would have introduced the world’s toughest restrictions on vapes, including advertising controls, plain packaging and moving towards a prescription model.
The sale of vapes will now be subject to ‘stringent’ conditions such as ID checks, quantity and concentration limits, plain packaging and no advertising.
In a world first, only pharmacists will be able to sell these items, but the original plan was to make vapes a Schedule 4 (prescription only) item, rather than a Schedule 3 (pharmacy only, but OTC) item.
And these items will still be available to young people under the age of 18 with a prescription.
Proponents of the changes, including the Australian Medical Association, whose members will no longer be the gatekeepers as prescribing health professionals, say the laws are still a win because they will take vapes ‘out of the commercial space’ and into ‘a more clinical environment’.
Critics counter that, given the huge black market for vapes, the loophole deal will simply place undue pressure on pharmacists and turn the clinical environment into a de facto vape shop.
In response to the watering down of the government’s proposals, the Pharmacy Guild said in a statement: “Pharmacists are healthcare professionals who dispense medication that provides a proven therapeutic benefit.
Not a therapeutic product
“No vaping product has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration based on its safety, efficacy or performance.
“No vaping product is listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.
“Vaping has long-term patient harms, including cancer, lung-scarring and nicotine addiction. There is limited evidence to support the use of vaping products for smoking cessation and nicotine dependence.
“The Senate’s expectation that community pharmacies become vape retailers and vape garbage collectors, is insulting.
“Everyone wants to keep illegal vapes out of the hands of kids and teenagers but the Senate wants pharmacists to stock vapes next to children’s Panadol, cold and flu medicine, and emergency contraception.”