Calls to make vapes accessible amid statewide crackdown on traditional tobacco cigarettes

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten says stocking vapes at supermarkets will “probably” save the lives of these Australians.

Vapes would be sold at supermarkets and dodgy undercover traders would be targeted in a mass statewide crackdown under a bold new plan proposed to the government.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten will call on the Andrews government to make e-cigarettes, or vapes, more accessible for smokers in a bid to phase out traditional tobacco cigarettes.

Currently, adults can only legally get a nicotine vape through a prescription from their doctor, however Ms Patten claims this has purposely been designed to be a deliberately arduous process.

It has led to a booming undercover market for dodgy traders to sell illegal vapes which are ending up in the hands of children.

“It is a sad irony that in the name of health Australian governments are making a policy error so fundamental it will kill Australian citizens,” Ms Patten said.

While not risk free, Ms Patten said international research showed e-cigarettes with nicotine proved to be a significantly better alternative to smoking tobacco.

But instead of tackling tobacco addiction head on, Ms Patten said governments are taking an “absurd, unethical path” that is leading to the “rampant death of people” desperate to quit cigarettes.

“Tobacco smoking is one of the most dangerous things one can do, the leading preventable cause of illness and premature death, and the harm reduction effects of vaping on this cohort are beyond dispute, abundant international evidence shows,” she said.

A woman seen smoking a cigarette. Picture: Justin Tallis

“Yet Australia is taking an absurd, unethical path away from reason towards supporting a black market and the ongoing rampant death of people desperate to quit tobacco.

“At the same time, we are grappling with a worrying rise in the illegal use of vapes by children.”

Ms Patten said regulating the use of vapes - by stocking them at supermarkets - would help to keep them out of the hands of children.

“This is a group not addicted to tobacco smoking and failing to apply existing regulations to keep them off this evidently self-destructive path is not optional,” she said.

“But blocking adults from accessing a harm minimisation device that will immediately improve their health and probably save their lives makes no sense.

Ms Patten says regulating vapes will help keep them away from children. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“Vaping is to tobacco what methadone and hydromorphone are to heroin. All these measures reduce harm and open a route to recovery and a better life.

“It’s curious that Australian governments are prepared to block access to a product that cuts demand for cigarettes, an insidious killer product that provides fully half of the annual cost of Medicare.”

Quit Victoria, VicHealth and the Cancer Council this week called for the Andrews government to crackdown on teenagers’ access to vape amid new research that shows the full scope of its harm.

A Herald Sun investigation earlier this month revealed police have been unable to point to a single fine against tobacconists selling illegal vapes.