The federal government has unveiled a major crackdown on recreational vaping, in a bid to stamp out soaring usage, especially among young Australians.
Key to that is the government's plan to curtail the sale of vaping devices for therapeutic purposes only, allowing every GP around the country to write a script for nicotine vaping.
"No more bubblegum flavours, no more pink unicorns on the wrappers. They've got to be pharmaceutical-style with plain flavours and not disposable," federal Health Minister Mark Butler told ABC's 7.30.
Currently, there was not a single nicotine vaping product approved by Australia's drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), meaning that these medicines have not been tested for quality or safety.
In a statement to the ABC's 7.30 program, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) president Nicole Higgins said doctors welcomed the government's crackdown: "The last thing we want is a new generation of nicotine users."
However, Dr Higgins said, GPs would prefer to have the ability to prescribe TGA-approved medicines.
"Australia's vaping model does not feature a Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved nicotine vaping product," Dr Higgins said.
"Ideally, the RACGP would prefer to have an approved nicotine vaping product to prescribe, as this would then bring it in line with other medicines and standardise the prescribing process."
Mr Butler says that, so far, no tobacco company has applied for TGA approval.
"I'm not aware of them doing that in other countries as well. I think that's a long, laborious process," he said.
"And, at the end of the day, I'm not going to wait for sponsors to do that if there are products in the marketplace that comply with the standards I've just set out."
"They need to be free of chemicals that the TGA lists as particularly dangerous. They need to be at particular nicotine levels, as well as all of the other things I set out around flavouring and presentation," he said.
The RACGP says the college would like to see support for family doctors prescribing unapproved products.
"It's vital that this change is made in conjunction with adequate education and support for GPs on how to prescribe unapproved nicotine vaping products," Dr Higgins said.
'The next generation of tobacco control reforms'
After making history as the first country to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes, the federal Department of Health says Australia has now become "the first country to propose that access to all vaping products be limited to therapeutic purposes".
Health Minister Mark Butler said vaping products were never intended to be sold as recreational, but that a thriving market had created what the minister called "the biggest loophole in Australian history".
He says lax regulations have allowed vaping to spread among young people, with one-in-six teenagers aged 14 to 17 reporting that they have vaped.
"This is a public health menace, particularly impacting younger Australians," Mr Butler told the ABC's 7.30.
"And it's the result of a deliberate strategy, I think, by big tobacco to create a new generation of nicotine addicts, and we simply can't stand by and let that happen."
The government's crackdown will also involve tougher importation checks, to ensure that products marketed to younger consumers stay out of the country.
"We'll have to beef-up border checks. And we're committed to doing that so that the only way companies will be able to import vapes is to demonstrate that they will be for sale through a pharmacy, on prescription by a health professional, and that they comply with new standards," he said.
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