All single-use disposable vapes will be banned in Australia. Photo: pixabay
Vapes will be heavily regulated and the importation of all e-cigarettes will be strictly controlled under an Australian federal government crackdown on the smoking alternative.
Non-prescription vapes will be banned from importation, and the federal government will work with states and territories to close down the sale of vapes in retail settings.
Under new rules, vapes will only be sold in pharmacies and in "pharmaceutical-like" packaging, with certain flavours, colours and other ingredients banned, and the concentration and volume of nicotine reduced.
All single-use disposable vapes will be banned.
However, the government will also make it easier for people to get a prescription for "legitimate" therapeutic use, such as using vapes to help quit smoking.
The federal budget measure will cost a total of A$234 million, including A$63m for a public health campaign to discourage vaping, and $30m towards support programs to help Australians quit.
A further $140m to extend the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program will be funded.
And all doctors will be able to prescribe nicotine vapes to smokers looking to quit, rather than smokers needing approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
While smoking rates in Australia are among the lowest in the world, vaping triples the likelihood someone will take up smoking and more than half of regular vapers are under 30.
A study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of
Public Health found when over a thousand teenagers aged between 15 to 17 were
asked if they knew where to find vapes, four-fifths said they found vapes easy
or somewhat easy to buy in retail stores.
Nicotine vapes can only be sold in Australia with a prescription, but a black market for the products is thriving, and non-nicotine vapes sold at convenience stores are often found to contain the highly addictive substance.
Previous attempts to crack down on the illegal importation of nicotine vapes have struggled because the products are odourless and easily hidden.
'The biggest loophole in Australian history'
In remarks prepared for his National Press Club address, Health Minister Mark Butler said progress made through tobacco reforms he introduced last year threatened to be undone by vaping.
"Vaping was sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit," Butler said.
"It was not sold as a recreational product - especially not one for our kids. But that is what it has become: the biggest loophole in Australian history."
Butler said vaping had become the number one behavioural issue in high schools and a growing issue in primary schools.
"This is a product targeted at our kids, sold alongside lollies and chocolate bars," Butler said.
"Just like they did with smoking, Big Tobacco has taken another addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and added flavours to create a new generation of nicotine addicts."
The reforms are in direct contrast to what had been proposed by tobacco lobby groups, some industry groups and the Nationals, who had suggested an easing of vaping rules for adults in line with the approach taken by countries such as New Zealand.
- ABC