Australia to Ban Vaping

[USincognito]

Firstly, we've found that we can't trust vape manufacturers. Ostensibly nicotine free vapes have been shown to contain nicotine.

Are you referring to the tobacco companies who make the single use vapes? Because we're in agreement. I'm talking about the mods and pens one gets from a specialty shop or online that use liquid from small batch producers.

Secondly, even without nicotine, the vaping process emulates smoking and is likely to, subtly, guide kids towards trying cigarettes. Some vape brands owned by tobacco companies, emulate cigarette branding to tighten the link between vapes and cigarettes.

I agree with the part in italics, so obviously vaping should remain 18+, but my main reason for not outlawing it, as I noted above, was in helping smokers who want to quit.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

I'm talking about the mods and pens one gets from a specialty shop or online that use liquid from small batch producers.

Honestly, I would trust those even less. Small shops and online storefronts generally have less oversight on where they're getting their product from. Some may be trustworthy, but they're going to be hidden in a sea of shops selling knockoff goods and stuff dropshipped from China. You see the same sort of things with a lot of enthusiast hobbies - the people who are heavily invested tend to form communities on forums or reddit or discord where they share good producers and shops/websites to buy from, but the average person who's just interested in trying it out punches "vape juice" into google and buys something from the first slickly-designed website he sees. With most other hobbies, that mainly just results in wasted money, but with vaping, the consequences can be much more serious.

 

[Zoii]

CNN 2 March 2023 (Edited -OB)

Australia to ban recreational vaping in major crackdown on e-cigarettes as teen use soars​

The Australian government will ban e-cigarettes through a heavy set of controls on imports and packaging to discourage vaping, especially among teens, under its biggest smoking reforms in more than a decade.

Australian Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday said vaping has become a top behavioral issue in high schools and a growing problem in elementary schools but recognized the products have a therapeutic use under the right circumstances…

“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 – in particular not one for our kids. But that is what it has become – the biggest loophole in Australian history.”

Announcing the new regulations, Butler said non-prescription vapes will be banned from importation, and vape products will be required to have pharmaceutical-like packaging, aimed at being sold as products to help smokers quit only.

Brightly colored, fun-flavored packs that lured younger users will be restricted, and all single-use and disposable vapes will be banned, Butler added.

Before the changes were announced Tuesday, the only legal way to sell a nicotine vape in Australia was through a prescription provided by a doctor to a pharmacy – but the products were still widely sold across the country.

A “black market” of convenience stores and gas stations selling the nicotine vapes without any labeling or warnings to minors have thrived under a lack of regulation and action, according to Butler.

“No more bubblegum flavors. No more pink unicorns. No more vapes deliberately disguised as highlighter pens for kids to be able to hide them in their pencil cases,” the health minister added.

Butler said. Australia’s tobacco tax will also be increased by 5% per year over the next three years starting on September 1.

(Australia already has high tobacco taxes along with a ban on all tobacco advertising and retail display. All tobacco products come in plain brown packaging with graphic photos of tobacco related medical problems..- OB)
View attachment 330663
More:
Australia to ban recreational vaping in major crackdown on e-cigarette black market | CNN
Vapes to be banned for recreational use, 'pharmaceutical' packaging to be required under crackdown - ABC News

This is an excellent move - Well done to the Commonwealth Dept of Health and the Australian government. There are far too many kids taking up vaping

 

[FireDragon76]

I do not favor the outlawing of flavored liquids that are used in mods and pens, though I would like to see nicotine levels limited to ~10mg. For people trying to quit, the boutique liquids and the adjustable nicotine level can be just the thing. The one use pens sold by the tobacco companies should be outlawed. They load those up with ~40mg of nicotine, or the same as an entire pack of cigarettes, to cause addiction and get people to start smoking.

One advantage of high-nicotine liquid, it exposes a person to less vape, as those little pens aren't usually designed for cloud chasing. Another thing to consider is that some of those flavorings, like cinnamon or butter, are known lung irritants, some like diacetyl or related compounds, can be quite dangerous.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

E-cigs are what helped me kick the habit 14 years ago.

While they're not necessarily "safe" or "good for you", they're certainly less "terrible" for you than traditional cigarettes. And some data would indicate that they actually work better than the gums, lozenges, and patches with regards to smoking cessation.

E-cigarettes are more effective than nicotine-replacement therapy in helping smokers quit | University of Oxford

The latest Cochrane Review finds high certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes are more effective than traditional nicotine-replacement therapy (NRT) in helping people quit smoking.

www.ox.ac.uk

New evidence published today in the Cochrane Library finds high certainty evidence that people are more likely to stop smoking for at least six months using nicotine e-cigarettes, or ‘vapes’, than using nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches and gums. Evidence also suggested that nicotine e-cigarettes led to higher quit rates than e-cigarettes without nicotine, or no stop smoking intervention, but less data contributed to these analyses. The updated Cochrane review includes 78 studies in over 22,000 participants – an addition of 22 studies since the last update in 2021.

'For the first time, this has given us high-certainty evidence that e-cigarettes are even more effective at helping people to quit smoking than traditional nicotine replacement therapies, like patches or gums.'


Seems irresponsible to completely ban something that's helping people quit a much more dangerous habit.

Plus, if these banning efforts are strictly aimed at trying to prevent uptake of bad habits in teens, then their approach may be a little misguided as they clearly aren't acknowledging what we know about teen psychology...particularly, the aspect that a certain percentage of teens will try to do things that are considered "bad/edgy/rebellious". (which means a percentage of teens will just glom onto some other form of destructive behavior to go against what the adults want)

Seems short-sighted to take away an effective cessation tool from adults because of what teens may do. Sounds like a more responsible approach would be to simply tighten the regulations around like what's done for alcohol. If there were a massive uptake in underage drinking, I doubt anyone would be trying to float the idea of "Prohibition 2: Electric Boogaloo"

 

[Occams Barber]

Seems irresponsible to completely ban something that's helping people quit a much more dangerous habit.

Plus, if these banning efforts are strictly aimed at trying to prevent uptake of bad habits in teens, then their approach may be a little misguided as they clearly aren't acknowledging what we know about teen psychology...particularly, the aspect that a certain percentage of teens will try to do things that are considered "bad/edgy/rebellious". (which means a percentage of teens will just glom onto some other form of destructive behavior to go against what the adults want)

Seems short-sighted to take away an effective cessation tool from adults because of what teens may do. Sounds like a more responsible approach would be to simply tighten the regulations around like what's done for alcohol. If there were a massive uptake in underage drinking, I doubt anyone would be trying to float the idea of "Prohibition 2: Electric Boogaloo"

The article extract in the OP mentions that nicotine vapes will still be available under strict limitations. Nicotine vapes will only be stocked by pharmacists, will be neutrally packaged, and will require a doctor's prescription as part of a quit smoking strategy.

I don't accept your argument that the cure is worse than the disease because some teenagers may throw a tantrum nor is there a legitimate comparison between banning vapes and alcohol prohibition.

In post #20 I set out 4 reasons (see below) why I agreed with a ban on nicotine and non-nicotine vapes apart from strict medical usage. I also suspect that there are US/Australian cultural differences which make a ban based broadly on public good more acceptable here (extract from Post !! below)..

From Post #20

Firstly, we've found that we can't trust vape manufacturers. Ostensibly nicotine free vapes have been shown to contain nicotine.

Secondly, even without nicotine, the vaping process emulates smoking and is likely to, subtly, guide kids towards trying cigarettes. Some vape brands owned by tobacco companies, emulate cigarette branding to tighten the link between vapes and cigarettes.

Thirdly, nobody really knows about the long-term effects of inhaling whatever it is they put in vape liquid. Eventually we'll start to find out. If it's problematic, we're likely to have a generation disabled by whatever forms of disease vapes cause - just like we have with tobacco

Finally, vapes are an ideal medium for quietly introducing (possibly legal) mildly addictive substances. There's a chance we could simply duplicate the tobacco problem all over again.

From Post #11

You'll find that Australians have a very different attitude to government interventions like this when compared to Americans. "Public good' usually rates higher than individual preference. Our limitations on guns (and knives) and our nationalised medical scheme are examples of this. It's one of the reasons our life expectancy is higher than yours.

OB

 

[Estrid]

CNN 2 March 2023 (Edited -OB)

Australia to ban recreational vaping in major crackdown on e-cigarettes as teen use soars​

The Australian government will ban e-cigarettes through a heavy set of controls on imports and packaging to discourage vaping, especially among teens, under its biggest smoking reforms in more than a decade.

Australian Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday said vaping has become a top behavioral issue in high schools and a growing problem in elementary schools but recognized the products have a therapeutic use under the right circumstances…

“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 – in particular not one for our kids. But that is what it has become – the biggest loophole in Australian history.”

Announcing the new regulations, Butler said non-prescription vapes will be banned from importation, and vape products will be required to have pharmaceutical-like packaging, aimed at being sold as products to help smokers quit only.

Brightly colored, fun-flavored packs that lured younger users will be restricted, and all single-use and disposable vapes will be banned, Butler added.

Before the changes were announced Tuesday, the only legal way to sell a nicotine vape in Australia was through a prescription provided by a doctor to a pharmacy – but the products were still widely sold across the country.

A “black market” of convenience stores and gas stations selling the nicotine vapes without any labeling or warnings to minors have thrived under a lack of regulation and action, according to Butler.

“No more bubblegum flavors. No more pink unicorns. No more vapes deliberately disguised as highlighter pens for kids to be able to hide them in their pencil cases,” the health minister added.

Butler said. Australia’s tobacco tax will also be increased by 5% per year over the next three years starting on September 1.

(Australia already has high tobacco taxes along with a ban on all tobacco advertising and retail display. All tobacco products come in plain brown packaging with graphic photos of tobacco related medical problems..- OB)
View attachment 330663
More:
Australia to ban recreational vaping in major crackdown on e-cigarette black market | CNN
Vapes to be banned for recreational use, 'pharmaceutical' packaging to be required under crackdown - ABC News

Good move.
Singapore is the model to strive for

 

[Occams Barber]

Good move.
Singapore is the model to strive for

I had a look at Singapore's rules on vaping and they sound similar to ours. One difference is that we allow sale of nicotine vapes, (from pharmacies only) providing you have a doctor's prescription. We've always restricted nicotine vapes to pharmacies but, so far, we've been a bit lax on enforcement - this is about to change.

Tobacco rules also sound similar - plain packaging, no advertising or display and heavy restrictions on where you can smoke. We may be a little tighter on sponsorship and display in dedicated tobacconists.

As far as tobacco goes New Zealand has my vote. They have a long term strategy to reduce both demand and supply.

OB