How should nicotine vaping be regulated in Australia?

Abstract

In Australia, nicotine vaping products are regulated as prescription‐only medicines which can only be sold from a pharmacy, with the aim of preventing youth access and allowing use by adult smokers with a doctor's support. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has acknowledged that this policy has not achieved its goals. Instead, a thriving black market has developed which sells unregulated vape products to children and adults. Very few adult vapers use the legal prescription pathway. Regulation should find the optimal balance between facilitating legal access for adult smokers while restricting access by youth. The preferred approach is a tightly regulated consumer model with nicotine vaping products sold by licenced retail outlets with strict age‐of‐sale verification. Regulations should be proportionate to risk and reflect the lower harms of vaping relative to smoking. A consumer model would bring Australia into line with other Western countries and improve population health.

How do you solve a problem like youth vaping?

“…In their commentary, Mendelsohn, Wodak and Hall, call for NVPs to 'be available from licensed retail outlets, such as specialist vape shops, pharmacies and general retail outlets, like cigarettes and alcohol' [19]. A campaign called 'Responsible Vaping Australia,' which is 'an initiative of British American Tobacco Australia' with prominent support from various retailing groups, is currently making similar appeals to allow NVPs to be sold as consumer products in Australia [20].…”