Australian government's dangerously misguided policy on vaping allows black market to thrive

Alarming stories about schools installing vape detectors in toilet blocks and brightly-coloured disposable vapes being sold to children appear in our papers almost every day.

There is a reason for this. The vaping black-market is clearly out of control.

Millions of illegal devices are being imported freely into Australia each month and sold freely to all-comers for an indecent profit.

This problem was created by the government's regulations. Now a knee-jerk reaction will only make things worse.

Australia is the only country in the world that requires adult smokers to get a doctor's prescription before buying liquid nicotine to help them quit.

However, very few doctors are willing to prescribe liquid nicotine, and even fewer pharmacies are willing to sell them.

As a result, many adult smokers have been forced onto the black-market to access a less harmful alternative to deadly cigarettes.

The black-market has exploded, selling highly profitable, dodgy products, without any consumer protections.

This includes the widespread, and apparently unrestricted, sale to young people.

Reporting of youth vaping has reached a fever pitch and misinformation is common.

The "gateway" theory, that vaping leads non-smokers to smoking is often raised, but has been comprehensively disproven in numerous scientific studies.

In fact, the evidence suggest that vaping is diverting young people away from deadly smoking and reducing smoking rates faster than before.

Further, there is absolutely no evidence that vaping causes serious lung disease.

The outbreak of the lung disease in North American in 2019 - a disease which became known as EVALI - was caused by black-market cannabis vapes that were adulterated with Vitamin E Acetate.

No cases have ever been linked to nicotine vaping.

The risk from the hysteria around youth vaping is a knee-jerk reaction from governments to restrict adult vaping further.

This would be a public health catastrophe.

Vaping is a lifesaving tool for adult smokers who can't quit.

It is the most popular and most effective quitting aid globally.

Vaping is not risk-free, but the research shows it is around 95 per cent safer than smoking.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Smokers who switch to vaping have dramatically reduced exposure to toxins, substantial health improvements, feel and smell much better and have more money in their pockets.

The reality is most smokers try many times and fail to quit using other first-line treatments.

Nicotine vaping is an approved solution for these smokers and should be at least as readily available for them as cigarettes.

This isn't a novel idea. In every other western democracy, vaping products are available as consumer goods for smoking cessation, including the UK and New Zealand.

In fact, since its legalisation in 2020, New Zealand has experienced record declines in smoking rates, while effectively restricting access by young people.

Unfortunately, the Australian government isn't listening to the science or looking at the public health success in New Zealand.

Instead, they are proposing an outright ban on vaping. This will be disastrous for public health.

Prohibition simply doesn't work and never has. It just sends the problem underground where it is managed by criminal gangs.

The way to deal with this market is to regulate it properly, like any other adult product. That way, these products can be sold with proper age verification in licensed outlets, taxed and chemical additives can be limited to those which are safe.

If adult smokers can access nicotine vaping to help them quit smoking, the black-market will simply no longer be profitable, and will dissolve and sales to kids will dry up.

Without urgent change, instances of use and misuse by young people will only grow, and 21,000 Australian smokers will continue to die every year without accessible alternatives that could help them live longer and healthier lives.