Vape-flation: prices have surged, but retailers are still flouting the ban

Illicit vape prices have surged in the two months since a nationwide ban on their sale outside pharmacies began, fuelling concerns about a lucrative black market as shops across the country continue to stock the devices.

This masthead visited a dozen tobacco and convenience stores across Sydney and found all had vapes available: some on display in glass cases, most pulled out from beneath the counter.

The retail sale of vapes has been banned since July 1, with penalties of up to $2.2 million and up to seven years’ jail.Credit: AP

Some were brazenly advertising vapes. Others had scratched out the word on their signs but had vast selections for sale when queried.

Pulling out a box with 5000 puffs, one seller said: “This one is $60. Last year, I used to sell three for $60.”

Asked why vapes had become so expensive, they said, chuckling, “because they’re illegal”. None of the sellers approached by this masthead asked for proof of age to purchase.

Vapes, which may have cost as little as $3 each from factories in China, were offered to this masthead in Sydney this month for between $40 and $60.

It illustrates the challenge ahead for Health Minister Mark Butler as he implements his world-leading vape ban.

Under the new laws, the only legal vapes are pharmacy products that have limited nicotine and come in menthol, mint or tobacco flavours, designed for people who want help to quit smoking.

All retail, such as convenience stores or petrol stations, were banned from selling vapes from July 1. Butler introduced penalties of up to $2.2 million and seven years’ jail for retailers who flout the rules by selling single-use vapes in a range of fruity or sweet flavours, which are popular among young people.

The final phase of the laws will come into effect in October, when over-18s will be able to buy vapes from a chemist without a prescription after consulting with a pharmacist. The Pharmacy Guild of Australia declined to comment on the price of prescription vapes that will be available in pharmacies.

Butler said state authorities had been ramping up their enforcement activity, conducting raids across the country, and high schoolers were reporting vapes were harder to find.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration and Australian Border Force (ABF) have seized 5.2 million devices so far this year, with an average street value of about $30 each, after Butler introduced tougher laws at the border in January.

“My message to those continuing to sell vapes is we are deadly serious about enforcing this ban,” Butler said. “Vape stores across the country are winding up their leases and closing their doors.”

An ABF spokesperson said those raking in profits from illegal vapes included organised crime groups involved in the illicit tobacco trade .

International suppliers were actively seeking ways to sidestep border controls, they said, with high levels of misdeclaring and misdescribing vapes as household goods or gym equipment.

Between October 2022 and April 2023, the ABF seized just 3 per cent of the up to 28 million illicit vapes that came into the country. The increase in seizures in recent months probably indicated that stockpiles were running low and importers were trying to bring more vapes into the country, the spokesperson said.

Butler has invested significant political capital in making sure the ban works, warning that vapes are a cynical ploy from Big Tobacco to hook a new generation on nicotine.

The ban is opposed by the Coalition, which instead backs a strictly regulated consumer model that would sell vapes like cigarettes.

Shadow health minister Anne Ruston said Labor’s prohibition approach was not working. “Kids are still being targeted by a thriving and dangerous black market,” she said.

“That is why we have committed to moving to a regulated approach if elected.”

Australian Medical Association president Professor Steve Robson said that while “isolated retailers” were flouting laws, the effects of the ban were heading in the right direction.

“Illegal vapes will be stamped out by the end of the year with any luck,” he said.

Roy Morgan data shows 7.1 per cent of Australian adults, or 1.5 million people, vaped in July – about 300,000 fewer than the same time last year, and down from a peak of 9.2 per cent in December.

However, Deakin University criminologist and forensic psychologist David Bright said restrictions on vapes could push consumers towards cigarettes and tobacco.

Butler also said there had been a crackdown on vaping advertising. Since July 1, 118 warnings have been issued to advertisers promoting vaping goods, and since the start of the year, more than 8000 requests have been made to digital platforms to remove advertisements. About 58 websites have been, or will be, blocked from public view.

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