Prescription e-cigarettes get green light

Australians will be able to buy ­nicotine-based e-cigarettes at chemists with a script from their doctor, under an interim decision by the TGA.

The Morrison government is concerned more Australian teenagers will begin smoking after being introduced to nicotine-based e-cigarettes.

Australians will be able to buy ­nicotine-based e-cigarettes at chemists with a script from their doctor, under an interim decision made by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The proposal, which will be open to public consultation before a final decision is handed down by the end of the year, would make it legal for the first time in Australia to purchase and use vaping products containing nicotine with a prescription.

The Australian was able to confirm the TGA’s decision a day before it was due to be published after obtaining leaked talking points sent to government MPs on ­Tuesday.

“The interim decision proposes nicotine for human use is rescheduled from schedule 7 (dangerous poison) to schedule 4 (prescription-only medicine),” the talking points say. “The interim decision clarifies that nicotine for all human use is a prescription-only medicine and that possession without a script is not permitted.

“The (TGA) delegate considered restricting access in accordance with a prescription is necessary to address the recent ­increase in uptake of use of e-cigarettes containing nicotine by young adults.”

While smokers can legally import e-cigarettes containing nicotine without a prescription in limited circumstances under existing laws, possessing and using the products is illegal in every state and territory except South Australia.

National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb seized on the leaked talking points to question whether the TGA’s process had been truly independent. “It’s disappointing that this decision seems to be a done deal, before the independent advice is released,” Ms Lamb said.

“It’s also disappointing that the 20,000 retailers who will be affected haven’t been consulted, even though they are best placed to help smokers move to a less harmful option. Those small retailers are confused about how this process came about and why their views don’t seem to matter.”

Retailers are furious they have been excluded from selling vaping products with nicotine and say the prescription-only model will benefit major pharmacy chains like Chemist Warehouse and Good Price Pharmacy.

The government’s talking points say decisions around scheduling are made by a senior medical adviser at the TGA and are not a decision of Health Minister Greg Hunt.

Supporters of nicotine-based vaping say it is far safer than smoking and helps people end the habit altogether, but the Morrison government is concerned by “strong evidence” of nonsmokers being introduced to nicotine through vaping for the first time.

“Evidence suggests that the use of e-cigarettes by non-smoking youths predicts future take up of smoking,” the Department of Health says on the TGA’s website.

“In the US, there was a 78 per cent increase in the number of high school children vaping over the most recent 12-month period surveyed. Without action, Australian youth will also be at risk.”

Mr Hunt wanted to ban nicotine-based e-cigarettes without prescriptions from July but after facing pressure from Coalition colleagues — who want the products regulated rather than banned — delayed the decision until January.

The latest statistics show tobacco use contributed to an estimated 21,000 deaths in 2015, despite smoking rates in Australia decreasing from 22.3 per cent in 2001 to 13.8 per cent in 2017-18.

Ms Lamb is calling on the Morrison government to adopt rules around nicotine-based vaping products similar to New Zealand’s, where from August next year shop owners will be able to apply to be specialist vape retailers.