Australia’s vape policy on knife’s edge

Australia faces an insurmountable challenge in its vaping policy, with organised crime controlling a vast illicit market as fears mount that prohibition will further fuel the black trade.

Health Minister Mark Butler and Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner Chris Waters with seized vapes found at an ABF examination facility. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ben Clark

Australia faces an insurmountable challenge in its vaping policy, with organised crime controlling a vast illicit market as fears mount that prohibition will further fuel the black trade amid a failing prescription model.

The federal government’s quest to stamp out vaping through world-first bans on the import, possession and sale of disposable vapes are on a knife edge, with ­Liberals turning away from the policy in favour of regulation.

As gang violence linked to the illicit tobacco and vape industry spurs almost daily firebombings in Melbourne, where there is no licensing scheme for tobacco or vaping products, law enforcement experts are predicting the government’s imminent legislation to ban the sale of vapes will make the problem worse.

Victorian police investigate an overnight fire bombing of a tobacco/vape shop at Epping on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

Criminals that control the illicit tobacco market are increasingly shifting to illegal imported vapes, which deliver enormous profit margins, with the Australian Border Force unable to stop even a fraction of the imports.

“There’s a huge financial incentive for criminals to continue to supply this established market,” says crime investigation consultant Rohan Pike, a former AFP and Australian Border Force officer. “For the past 18 months there’s been absolute no effort to stop their sale. This is what happens when a serious crime goes unchecked for so long.”

The federal government is to soon introduce legislation to parliament to ban the sale of vapes at convenience stores and other shopfronts. Despite bans on imports and possession already having been introduced, illegal vapes with extraordinarily high nicotine content are still freely available at many convenience stores.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton appeared to indicate this week that the Liberals were seriously wavering on backing Health Minister Mark Butler’s vaping bans. The Nationals are already ­opposed, along with some independents. In an interview on the 2Day FM radio station, Mr Dutton indicated he was in favour of taxing, legalising and regulating vapes.

“I think it's hard to ban it ­because I think you’ll just see like with the chop chop, the illegal tobacco ... people are just buying it in dodgy stores and crime gangs end up profiting from it,” Mr Dutton said. “I think we treat it the same as tobacco is my instinct. I just think when we’ve banned things in the past, alcohol, it doesn’t work.”

Australia is the first country in the world to attempt to ban disposable vapes. Britain’s National Health Service has adopted a vaping-to-quit-smoking approach and prescribes regulated vapes to smokers. New Zealand has heavily regulated its market and vape shops are now in every suburb.

Mr Butler is standing firm ­behind his signature policy. “I’ve never pretended that we’re not going to be able to stop every single vape coming into the country in the same way we’re not stopping every bit of cocaine or other illicit drug,” he said. “We have given substantial additional resources to the Australia Border Force. In just the first two months of the ban on single-use disposable vapes they’ve seized more than 360,000 disposable vapes. That’s around three times the entire seizures over the course of 2023.”

Public health groups remain extremely concerned about the health harms of vapes. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Public health groups remain extremely concerned about the health harms of vapes. The Cancer Council of NSW states the harms as including lung inflammation and scarring caused by chemical inhalation, cell death and DNA damage. It points to a suite of toxic chemicals contained in vapes including formaldehyde and arsenic.

Australia’s prohibition model directs addicts to their GP, with the aim of pursuing a nicotine cessation policy. A commercial telehealth market with links to Big Tobacco, whose vapes are being supplied in pharmacies, has sprung up.

Royal Australian College of GPs president Nicole Higgins said doctors were focused on helping people quit both cigarettes and vapes.

“GPs are concerned about initiating vapes without people’s commitment to using it as a smoking cessation strategy,” Dr Higgins said. “If people just want to access a vape to continue vaping, that’s inconsistent with what the prescription product is for.”

University of Melbourne tobacco control researcher Ron Borland said the prescription model was set to continue to fail.

“The critical thing is, many people are using these products as recreational products,” Professor Borswell said. “If there are continuing barriers to prescription, and vapes continue to flood in at the border, people are likely to continue to access illicit vapes.”