Member for Robertson Gordon Reid has welcomed the passage of world-leading vaping laws through the Australian Parliament.
Following the Bill’s passage through Parliament, the sale, supply, manufacture, importation, and commercial possession of non-therapeutic vapes will be prohibited, with very serious penalties for those individuals and businesses that contravene the laws.
“As an emergency doctor, I see first-hand the effects of nicotine addiction in our hospitals,” Reid said.
“As a government we have taken swift action to ensure that we do not encourage a new generation addicted to nicotine via vapes.
“I urge our community to report any incidents of unlawful activity to the Therapeutic Goods Administration or Service NSW.”
People seeking a therapeutic vape will need to have a conversation with their GP and get a prescription to buy a regulated therapeutic vape from their local pharmacy.
People under 18 will always need to do this.
From October 1, that conversation around health harms and risks can take place with a pharmacist, with no prescription needed.
The peak professional body for pharmacists, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, has recognised the need for strong action to end the retail supply of vapes, and said it would now work with the government on the development of best practice guidelines for pharmacists.
Therapeutic vaping products will be behind the counter, nicotine concentrations and dispensing quantities will be tightly controlled, they will have plain pharmaceutical-like packaging, and flavours will be restricted to tobacco, menthol and mint.
Therapeutic vapes will have similar restrictions to other pharmacist-only products like the morning after pill, pseudoephedrine, allergy and asthma medications.
Pharmacists will be required to check photo ID and, importantly, have a conversation with that person around the health harms of vaping.
Therapeutic vaping goods can only be imported into Australia if the importer has a licence and permission from the Office of Drug Control (ODC) and has notified the Therapeutic Goods Administration that the products comply with TGA standards.
The Government says the new laws will return vapes and e-cigarettes to what they were originally sold to the Australian community and to governments around the world as – therapeutic products to help hardened smokers kick the habit.
Federal and state authorities in all jurisdictions will be able to enforce the laws, which will protect young Australians and the broader community from the harms of recreational vaping, while ensuring that those who really need access to a therapeutic vape for help to quit smoking, can get one from their local pharmacy.
Welcomed by health authorities and organisations around the country, the laws build on Labor’s tobacco plain packaging reforms more than a decade ago, as well as the next generation of tobacco control laws that were passed through the Parliament in December last year.
Health Minister Mark Butler said recreational vaping was a scourge.
“It is a public health menace, particularly for children and for young people,” he said.
“A product that was presented as a therapeutic good that would help hardened smokers kick the habit finally, has actually been deployed by Big Tobacco as a tool to recruit a new generation to nicotine addiction.”
To report a breach, visit: https://www.tga.gov.au/resources/resource/forms/report-perceived-breach-or-questionable-practices