Coronavirus: Retailer fury at vape pharmacy sale plan

Retailers have urged the Morrison government to scrap its plan to sell vaping products in pharmacies with a prescription.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration will publish its interim decision on prescription vaping products on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Retailers have urged the Morrison government to scrap its plan to sell vaping products in pharmacies with a prescription, warning the “deliberate exclusion” of small businesses from selling the “less harmful” products was “unconscionable, illogical and indefensible”.

In a letter from the National Retail Association sent to government members and senators on Monday, chief executive Dominique Lamb said the prescription model was the “worst of both worlds” from a health and economic perspective.

Health Minister Greg Hunt announced in June that nicotine-based e-cigarettes would be banned, except where a person had a prescription from a doctor. The ban was initially meant to start in July but has been delayed until January.

“The deliberate exclusion of family and small businesses being able to participate in the sale of these less harmful alternatives to cigarettes is unconscionable, illogical and indefensible,” Ms Lamb said.

“It will disrupt market dynamics, detract from public health goals, and put the future sustainability of thousands of already struggling local small and family businesses at risk.

“It can only be concluded, given the community pharmacy opposition to vaping, that the regulatory reform proposal as progressed will do nothing more than hand a virtual monopoly right to retail these products to a narrow cohort of highly concentrated ‘big box’ pharmacy commercial interests.”

“Big box” pharmacies include major chains such as Chemist Warehouse and Good Price Pharmacy.

While Ms Lamb acknowledged small retailers felt “morally uncomfortable” with the revenue they earned from tobacco products, she said their livelihoods often depended on it.

There would also be unintended health consequences, Ms Lamb claimed, with smokers wanting to switch to smoke-free alternatives first required to visit a GP to get a script.

“Conservative estimates model that this will result in at a minimum extra two million GP visits occurring annually, costing the health budget more than $300m across the forward estimates,” she said. “The impact of this will be that sick, frail and elderly Australians will be unable to get a timely appointment, leading to worse health outcomes and more expensive tertiary medical interventions.”

Ms Lamb said Australia should adopt a system similar to New Zealand’s, where from August next year retailers will be able to apply to be specialist vape retailers.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration will publish its interim decision on prescription vaping products on Wednesday.