Premier to announce taskforce and $28m to crack down on vaping

A taskforce to clamp down on vaping will be announced on Wednesday, weeks after a major inquiry found action was needed to prevent a “generation of nicotine-addicted adults”.

A taskforce to clamp down on vaping will be announced by the state government on Wednesday, weeks after a major inquiry found action was needed to prevent creating a “generation of nicotine-addicted adults”.

It’s understood Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will on Wednesday announce the response to the landmark vaping inquiry she had ordered earlier this year, armed with $28.4m.

The report found medicines to help Queenslanders get off vapes should be subsidised and the state should join forces with the Commonwealth to end the e-cigarette black market or risk creating a “generation of nicotine-addicted adults”.

And there was an “absolute responsibility to address the issue now” according to committee chair Aaron Harper, with extensive community consultations ending with a total of 14 recommendations.

The report was tabled on August 31.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expected to announce the taskforce and funding on Wednesday.

It included calls for the state government to look into subsidising or making free “nicotine replacement therapy” medicines for those dependent on e-cigarettes or conventional cigarettes to help them quit.

The state government should also “investigate establishing a joint task force involving Queensland and Commonwealth agencies” in a bid to end the illegal retail supply of e-cigarettes.

Many of the recommendations called for increased funding for ongoing research and better guidelines and materials to prevent young people taking up vaping alongside supporting those who have developed a dependency.

“A concerted joint effort between the Commonwealth and state is required to shut down the illegal selling of vapes that are impacting our young people, who perhaps cannot see the ongoing health risks as this trend continues,” Mr Harper said.

“I echo the view of Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, Dr John Gerrard – now is the time to act – if not we will face a generation of nicotine-addicted adults in the years to come. We have an absolute responsibility to address this issue now.”

Vapes confiscated from students at Shalom College in Bundaberg.

Research commissioned as part of the inquiry found vaping rates among high school students is “incredibly high” and has become “normalised behaviour”.

And school bathrooms or a mate’s house was where teens were likely to have their first try of e-cigarettes.

“It has got to the point now where there is a running joke, don’t **** in the ‘vape room’. More people, I am not even joking, using the bathrooms to vape than to go to the toilet,” a boy in Year 11 said.

Research commissioned as part of the inquiry found vaping rates among high school students was “incredibly high” and had become “normalised behaviour”.

Queensland Health, in its submission, revealed calls to its poisons hotline and emergency department presentations had increased substantially.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard has warned we are facing a generation of nicotine-addicted adults.

There were 102 calls in 2022 about babies and toddlers aged 0 to 4 and suspected nicotine or other chemical poisonings, which was “more than double” calls received for the age group compared to the previous five years.

In the years between 2014 and 2020 the state’s emergency departments dealt with four cases of accidental ingestion of vaping liquid or components of vaping devices by infants and eight cases of people aged 16 years or older with injuries like poisoning or burns due to vapes.

But from 2021 to February this year there were 55 incidents of people needing emergency help due to vapes, with three people needing immediate resuscitation.

And more children are being referred to the Queensland Children’s Hospital mental health arm due to vape related concerns linked to nicotine dependence and withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, agitation, low mood, and difficulty with concentration.