As the government prepares to update Australia's vaping regulations and fix the mistakes of the previous administration, question marks remain over how lawmakers will solve the youth vaping crisis and help adult smokers access a lifesaving alternative to deadly cigarettes.
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Some have called for outright bans on the product; others for a tightening of current restrictions which classify nicotine vaping products as prescription-only medications. Neither of these solutions will solve the problem. In fact, they will make them worse.
Instead, nicotine vaping products should be made available from licensed retail outlets as adult consumer products without a prescription, bringing Australia into line with every other western country. This was the conclusion of our peer-reviewed study, published last week in the leading academic journal, Drug and Alcohol Review.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has admitted that the current prescription-only model has been a failure. It has been rejected by both doctors and consumers and has created a thriving illicit market, selling dodgy, mislabelled vape products freely to children and adults.
In the UK, New Zealand, US and Canada, vaping products are classified as adult consumer goods, not medicines. These countries have effectively introduced measures to prevent youth access while providing easier access for adult smokers wishing to quit. This is good policymaking.
In Australia, vaping products are currently regulated by the TGA. The TGA is responsible for regulating medicines and therapeutic goods, not consumer products.
Instead, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission should have regulatory responsibility over vaping products, as they do with other consumer products.
Under the consumer model, licensed retailers would require mandatory age-verification for anyone who looks under the age of 25. Severe fines and loss of licence would apply to enforce compliance. And spot checks can be conducted to ensure adherence to the rules.
Strict consumer licensing systems work. Alcohol and cigarettes have been regulated like this for years, and youth access from retail outlets has been well controlled.
The current prescription-only model has made it so difficult for adults to access vaping products legally, that a thriving black market has been created. Illegal operators are fragrantly breaching the laws without enforcement.
We know from past experience that the only way to stop a black market is to replace it with a legal and regulated one. Under a consumer model, the black market would become less profitable and illicit sales would diminish over time as it became largely replaced by the legal regulated market.
The current regulations need urgent reform. Nicotine vaping products are the most effective quitting aid available for smokers and are the most popular smoking cessation aid in Australia. The UK Royal College of Physicians and Public Health England have both estimated that long-term nicotine vaping is likely to be at least 95 per cent less harmful than smoking.
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It is simply a no-brainer to make them more accessible for the adult smokers who need them to quit.
Australia's prescription-only model for vaping has failed. Non-compliance is rampant. A black market is thriving. Next-generation Australians are at risk. And the Australian government has an urgent need to right the wrongs of the previous government and implement evidence-based regulatory policies that work.
Without a consumer model, Australia is headed toward a public health disaster. And the clock is ticking. It's time for the government to step up, place the country in line with other Western countries and solve Australia's vaping crisis for good.
- Dr Colin Mendelsohn is an academic, clinician and researcher who has worked the field of smoking treatment and tobacco harm reduction for over 40 years.
