Editor’s view: Qld’s vape scourge is out of control

There can be no doubt the response to the scourge of stores selling vapes and illegal loose-leaf tobacco has fallen far short of what is needed and what the community expects, writes the editor.

Australian Border Force seize cash, vapes and illegal tobacco seized in huge multi-agency tobacco raids.

One year ago this week, the federal government made a big deal about its supposedly tough laws banning the importation of vapes – irrespective of whether they contain nicotine.

This would mean addicts could only get their fix through participating pharmacies.

Former state health minister Shannon Fentiman followed up with her own laws in September, vowing to shut down illegal vapes shops for 72 hours, with magistrates given the power to extend that to six months.

Queenslanders can, therefore, be forgiven for scratching their heads every time they walk past one of our countless stores still selling vapes – and, for that matter, illegal loose-leaf tobacco known as chop-chop.

It seems yet another shop goes up in flames every few weeks as criminal groups stake out their turf in a violent struggle to control this lucrative black market.

About 20 million untaxed smokes, eight tonnes of chop-chop and a staggering 171,000 nicotine vapes were seized between July 2023 and March last year.

No wonder, then, that this evil trade has attracted the attention of organised-crime gangs including bikies.

To make matters worse, Brisbane now has the shameful title of the vapes-importation capital of Australia.

So, what’s going on? Are the laws too hard to enforce?

Those with long memories still recall the Joh Bjelke-Petersen era when prostitution laws were a national joke because undercover cops literally had to strip off and get on a bed before they could bust a brothel.

Or are the laws OK but there aren’t enough enforcers?

Queensland Health employs 154 officers, plus five independent inspectors, to patrol illegal shops.

A man walks out of a north Brisbane tobacco store. Picture: Liam Kidston

The government says there are between 350 and 400 “priority stores” across the state – two per officer. That doesn’t seem too onerous a task, even if estimates are correct that there are a dozen new stores opening every month.

New Health Minister Tim Nicholls has a different theory – that Ms Fentiman’s so-called crackdown in September was more like an annoying rap over the knuckles.

Some store owners reportedly treat the 72-hour shutdown like a mini holiday before opening their doors again.

Nicholls believes fines of $3226 per individual business and $16,130 for corporations are not a deterrent when the profits of this insidious trade – targeted largely at teens and young adults – are so lucrative.

To put that into perspective, one of these stores would have to sell only 60-70 standard disposable vapes to pay off a $3226 fine.

That’s a risk well worth taking for people with no respect for the law – or the lives of our youth.

Nicholls is right to claim the former state government, not to mention federal authorities, have sat on their hands for far too long.

While they have dithered, the rate of vaping has doubled in just seven years. As a result, one in three teens now vapes.

Schools and parents have been left to try to police youngsters who are lured by attractive packaging, appealing fragrances and, most potent of all, peer pressure.

When our schools are forced to lock toilets in a desperate bid to tackle a problem that sits squarely with public health authorities, there can be no doubt the response to this scourge has fallen far short of what is needed and what the community expects.

Originally published as Editor’s view: Qld’s vape scourge is out of control