Australia has become the only country to restrict the sale of vapes to pharmacies, with new laws coming into effect on Monday.
The domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of disposable and non-therapeutic vapes are banned under the reforms, meaning vapes will only be available behind the counter at a pharmacy.
The nicotine concentrations and dispensing quantities will be tightly controlled, the vapes will have plain packaging and flavours will be restricted to tobacco, menthol and mint.
Adults will need to get a prescription from their GP to buy a therapeutic vape but only until October, after which time only children will need a prescription.
The latest reforms come after legislation in March which banned the importation of vapes unless the importer has a licence and permit.
That was only phase 1 of the government’s plan, said Prof Becky Freeman, a tobacco control expert at the University of Sydney.
“We need this retail sales ban to really see these laws become effective and to make enforcement possible,” Freeman told Guardian Australia.
But with a surge of shops opening to sell the products even after the government announced the incoming reforms, what exactly will that enforcement look like?
Who will make sure rules are followed?
From Monday, federal authorities, including the Australian federal police, Australian Border Force and the Therapeutic Goods Administration, as well as state and territory health and police authorities, will enforce the laws.
The TGA said the new rules will make it easier to take on the illicit supply of vapes because laboratory testing won’t be needed to see if they contain nicotine.
All states and territories support the federal reforms and have committed to sharing and increasing compliance action.
New South Wales has more than 50 staff authorised as inspectors across the state, as part of the $25m NSW Health invested in tobacco and e-cigarette control.
The Queensland government passed laws in 2023 to grant its health department enforcement powers to target illicit tobacco activities, including raiding businesses.
A Queensland Health spokesperson said it had also increased funding to frontline enforcement officers to enhance their ability to enforce vaping and tobacco laws as part of a $28.4m commitment to tackle vaping harm.
The state’s hospital and health services received $2m in funding in 2023-24 and ongoing funding of $5m from Monday for enforcement too.
The federal government has provided the ABF with an additional $25m and the TGA with $56.9m over two years. Just under 3m vapes have been seized this year.
How are vape sellers reacting?
Many businesses that sell vapes have pushed back against the reforms. When importation was banned in March, a New Zealand online vape seller vowed to ignore Australia’s new laws.
Last week, the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores dubbed the latest reforms “dysfunctional policy”.
The AACS said it supported the alternate vaping policy the Coalition announced Tuesday. It is a tax-and-regulate scheme similar to that for tobacco which would make vapes available from places like service stations or convenience stores.
The CEO of the AACS, Theo Foukkare, said he believed the government’s new laws would create “an out-of-control black market” – a view shared by the vaping lobby ahead of the reforms, which some health experts have refuted.
A tobacconist in Sydney’s CBD who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity did not say whether they were disposing of their remaining vape stock before Monday.
They did, however, dub the laws “unrealistic” and said they created major financial challenges to tobacconists’ businesses.
“If you don’t sell vapes, you’re out of business.”
What happens if the law is broken?
Per the new laws, enforcement will target people and businesses selling vapes, not consumers. And the penalties are steep: individuals selling non-therapeutic vapes may risk up to seven years in jail and $2.2m in fines.
Corporations can be made to pay up to $21.91m per contravention.
The amended legislation has made it explicit that possession of personal use quantities of any form of vape will not be subject to criminal charges. A personal amount has been set at nine vapes, of any type.. There will be a 12-month amnesty period, in which people with more than nine vapes can surrender or dispose of their surplus vapes.
What’s the deal with prescriptions?
The government’s original reforms required people to get a prescription from their doctor to buy a vape.
However,to get the support in the Senate needed to pass the reforms into law, the government reached a last-minute deal with the Greens under which the prescription model was abandoned.
To give pharmacists enough time to prepare for the last minute change in the legislation the original prescription model will be in place for three months.
From 1 July, people seeking a therapeutic vape will need to have a conversation with their GP and get a prescription to buy a regulated vape from a pharmacy.
From 1 October, that conversation can take place with a pharmacist, with no prescription needed for vapes with a nicotine concentration of 20 mg/mL or less. However, those aged under 18 will need a prescription, no matter what.
• This article was amended on 1 and 3 July 2024. The amnesty period for the possession of vapes will last 12 months, not eight months as an earlier version said. And an earlier version incorrectly stated that Australia had become the first country to ban the sale of vapes outside pharmacies.
