Blooms the Chemist outlets to refuse sale of vapes without a script

A major pharmacy chain has written to its outlets saying it would not support Labor’s plan to allow the sale of vapes without a medical prescription as backlash continues.

A major pharmacy chain has written to its outlets saying it would not support the sale of vapes without a medical prescription.

The edict from Blooms the Chemist to its 115 outlets across the country comes as the federal parliament votes on loosening laws around the sale of vapes.

The move also means an attempt by the Greens to water down a vape ban — due to start next week — could be stymied.

Health Minister Mark Butler earlier this week watered down his tough new vaping ban by removing the need for a prescription to win Greens support in the Senate.

Blooms the Chemist has notified its pharmacies that it will not be supporting the sale without prescription because of the health risks they pose.

The company has written to the managers of all its outlets to make its position clear.

“Vapes are potentially harmful products and they currently do not have TGA approval for sale,” Blooms The Chemist Management Services Ltd CEO, Emmanuel Vavoulas wrote.

Mr Vavoulas said there were risks associated with vaping, particularly for young people – vapes have the potential to harm health, “which goes against our purpose” as a health care provider.

“The addictive nature of nicotine in vapes can lead to the continuation of vaping rather than solving the addiction problem,” he said.

And he said some of the suppliers of vapes are tobacco manufacturers, the most notable being tobacco giant, Philip Morris.

“Blooms The Chemist Support Office (BSO) feels very strongly that it would be unethical for a retail health brand like ours to do business with a tobacco company.

“For all the reasons outlined above, the BSO team will not be negotiating any deals on vaping products on behalf of the store network,” he said.

Blooms the Chemist refuses to sell vapes without a script. Picture: Newswire / Sarah Matray

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia which represents over 3,000 pharmacy owners slammed the passage of the legislation through the Senate claiming it would “compromise community health” and “not take into consideration the safety or efficacy of vapes as a smoking cessation device”.

It backed in Blooms the Chemist warning “pharmacists are healthcare professionals and community pharmacies do not want to supply this potentially harmful, highly addictive product without a prescription”.

Earlier this week it complained that “the Senate’s expectation that community pharmacies become vape retailers, and vape garbage collectors, is insulting”.

“Everyone wants to keep illegal vapes out of the hands of kids and teenagers, but the Senate wants pharmacists to stock vapes next to children’s Panadol, cold and flu medicine, and emergency contraception,” the Guild said in a statement.

Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John has used parliamentary privilege to accuse the Pharmacy Guild of not telling the truth when it says it opposes selling vapes because they are not safe.

He told parliament the Guild had wanted to make vapes available more easily in chemist shops by not having a requirement that a person buying them had to speak to a chemist first.

Senator Jordon Steele-John in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Medicines sold in pharmacies can be:

*Schedule 4 which means you need a script to get them.

*Schedule 3 which means they require professional advice from a pharmacists before you can use them but you don’t need a script.

*Schedule 2 they are openly available on pharmacy shelves and patients can help themselves without consulting anyone.

“Let me say very clearly, the view the Guild put to me and my team in our meeting was that they would support Schedule 4 of these substances, or they would support Schedule 2 of these substances. They did not support Schedule 3,” he told the Senate.

“So to come into this debate and propose that they oppose this scheduling because they are concerned about the safety of the substance is very disingenuous, given that Schedule 2 would have made it easier for young people and adults to access vaping products,” he said.

Making them schedule 2 would have “made them an in front of the counter substance, without the requirement to engage in a therapeutic conversation with a pharmacist or to demonstrate your proof of age,” he said.

A spokesman for the Pharmacy Guild said “the Guild categorically denies that”.

“We have never had a position in which nicotine containing vapes would be listed as schedule 2,” the spokesman said.

Pharmacies will be the only outlet legally able to sell vapes from next week. Picture: Getty Images

The government this week watered down a major crackdown on vaping to get it through the parliament this week.

Under the new laws to take effect on July 1 vapes will be banned from sale except through pharmacies.

Under the government’s preferred change they would have only been available from pharmacies if the customer had a doctor’s prescription.

In a major concession to get the support of The Greens to pass the legislation in the Senate the government has removed the need for a prescription for people aged over 18 from October.

Those under the age of 18 will still require a prescription to buy a vape through a pharmacy.

The vapes sold through pharmacies will have to have a permit from the Office of Drug Control.

Vaping products have not been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and no nicotine-containing vape is listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, the Guild National Vice President Anthony Tassone said.

“When we don’t know the long-term effects of vapes on patient safety, how can a pharmacist make an informed decision?” he asked

Significant questions remain about the impact the amendments will have on pharmacy insurance premiums, business risks and regulatory compliance, he said.

In January the government banned the import of disposable vapes and in March the government introduced new rules requiring vapes to be sold in pharmaceutically styled packaging with restrictions on flavours and the amount of nicotine they contained.

News Corp revealed in 2022 that tobacco giant Philip Morris had sought to offer chemists a secret cash for vapes scheme.

Chemist Warehouse’s Jack Gance said under a deal that his company rejected “they’re actually bribing the pharmacist by giving them an extra rebate on every product that they dispense. And if they recommend a customer to doctors they are getting rebates as well”.

Philip Morris has rejected as “one-sided and inaccurate” claims by Chemist Warehouse board chairman about negotiations between the companies over a deal to sell its vaping products.

Originally published as Blooms the Chemist outlets to refuse sale of vapes without a script