About 1 million Australians use vapes. Chemists dispensed them just 3500 times last month

Vapes were dispensed behind-the-counter at pharmacies just 3500 times during the first month of the federal government’s scheme to weed out the black market by making them chemist products, despite an estimated 1 million Australians using the devices.

Data supplied to Senate estimates reveals the uptake of pharmacy vape prescriptions was slow in October, the first month that e-cigarettes could be bought after a consultation with a chemist under Health Minister Mark Butler’s vaping crackdown.

With about 5800 pharmacies across the country, the data suggests thousands of them would not have prescribed a single vape product.

Data supplied to Senate estimates reveals a slow uptake in pharmacy vape sales in October.Credit: Louie Douvis

The government’s initial policy analysis assumed about 450,000 people a year would seek out medical vape products once illicit products became harder to get.

But many pharmacists say they are holding back from selling vapes on ethical grounds or because the process is too onerous. Illegal vapes are still widely available but have surged to between $40 and $60 a device as retailers bump up prices to compensate for higher penalties.

Health Department officials quizzed at Senate estimates last week said they were not keeping track of how many pharmacies were selling vapes at present. “It is actually quite difficult to get clear answers on that,” said Chief Medical Officer Tony Lawler.

Department official Chris Bedford provided data on the number of times vaping products had been dispensed by pharmacists after a patient consultation.

“There’s been 3500 of those across Australia ... The pharmacist could dispense more than one vaping good per notification, so the patient would go in and have the conversation,” Bedford said.

But the Health Department does not count how many vapes are sold with a doctor or nurse practitioner prescription – the other avenue that people can use to buy vapes legally.

Coalition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said it was astounding that the department did not know how many pharmacies were selling vapes “when this is a key component of the government’s policy”.

“The number of vapes dispensed by a pharmacist last month represents a negligible percentage of the estimated vapers in Australia,” Ruston said. “We know that the majority of pharmacists do not want to become tobacconists, and this is clearly represented in the department’s figures.”

No vape products have been listed on Australia’s register of therapeutic goods, meaning pharmacists have to prescribe and sell unapproved products. A spokeswoman from the Pharmacy Guild, which represents business owners, said this made pharmacists reluctant to supply them.

”There is limited evidence of their long-term safety or effectiveness in supporting long-term smoking cessation,” the spokeswoman said.

The pharmacy sector has pointed to anecdotal data indicating levels of uptake in lieu of official figures. An Australian Journal of Pharmacy reader survey found 86 per cent were not stocking vapes.

The Health Department told Senate estimates that about 1000 pharmacists took part in an information session run by the Australian Pharmaceutical Society in September to learn more; at the same time, a Pharmacy Guild poster advising patients that a chemist does not stock vapes has been downloaded more than 2000 times.

Richard Lee, chief executive of Liber Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures one of Australia’s main pharmacy vape products, said Butler’s pharmacy scheme had gotten off to a slow but reasonable start.

He said part of the reason for the slow uptake was that guidelines from the Therapeutic Goods Administration and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia had been released only in the days before the new scheme launched, on October 1.

“Nobody had time to process the changes to the framework or put operating procedures in place in time,” he said. “Most pharmacies are saying, ‘We’re in, but we’re not in yet’, because they take their responsibilities seriously and don’t want to get it wrong.”

Lee anticipated a significant uptake as pharmacies absorbed the changes and understood what they needed to do. “But it’s going to take three to six months,” he said.

Butler said his laws were unapologetically focused on protecting young Australians. “Vape stores around the country are closing, and importantly, young Australians are saying they are finding it harder to purchase vapes,” he said.

“The national laws set a strong and uniform baseline across the country that stamps out recreational vaping, particularly for young Australians, while allowing access for hardened smokers who want to kick the habit.”

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