Why Tassie’s new vaping regulations have been set up to fail

Robert Mallett rails against the state government’s nonsensical strategy to curb the use of vapes across Tasmania.

NEW rules have come into effect for the hundreds, if not thousands, of Tasmanians using nicotine vaping and nicotine e-cigarette products.

Tasmanians are required to get a prescription for these products from a doctor, and fill their script at a pharmacy.

While it is welcome the Therapeutic Goods Administration has recognised potential benefits of these products as smoking cessation aids, the problem with the new rules is in practice it will make it very difficult for Tasmanians to access them.

According to information released by the TGA, there is not a single GP in Tasmania registered to prescribe these products. So vaping Tasmanians will need to seek a prescription through a telehealth appointment (which the government says you will be able to access through the TGA website).

To make matters worse, the state government seems to be doing all it can to demonise these products and make them even harder to access. The measures announced by Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff amount to bad faith implementation of the national scheme.

Last week, Mr Rockliff announced that in order to stock nicotine vaping and nicotine e-cigarette products pharmacies will have to apply for a $1200 per year tobacco licence, as well as abiding by requirements of selling tobacco products.

Vape teenager. Young pretty white girl in white cardigan smoking an electronic cigarette opposite destroyed brick wall on the street in the spring. Bad habit that is harmful to health.

I will hazard a guess that very few, if any, Tasmanian pharmacists will seek such a licence, which will mean that Tasmanians will be required to fill their vaping and e-cigarette scripts from interstate or overseas suppliers. It is difficult to see how this decision helps local small business.

Minister Rockliff is gaslighting Tasmanians when he seeks to convince us that the weight of evidence is against the benefits of these products to help people to quit smoking. In fact, the opposite is true, and there is evidence nicotine vaping and nicotine e-cigarettes are effective harm reduction and smoking cessation aids.

This includes Public Health England who has found them to be 95 per cent less harmful than cigarettes.

There is also significant evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes are a driver of smoking cessation.

In April this year, the highly respected Cochrane Review (a systematic review of research in healthcare and health policy) found that:

● MORE people probably stop smoking for at least six months using nicotine e-cigarettes than using nicotine replacement therapy (four studies, 1924 people), or nicotine-free e-cigarettes (five studies, 1447 people).

● NICOTINE e-cigarettes may help more people to stop smoking than no support or behavioural support only (six studies, 2886 people).

● FOR every 100 people using nicotine e-cigarettes to stop smoking, nine to 14 might successfully stop, compared with only six of 100 people using nicotine-replacement therapy, seven of 100 using nicotine-free e-cigarettes, or four of 100 people having no support or behavioural support only.

WEEKEND TELEGRAPHS SPECIAL. MUST TALK WITH PIC ED KRISTI MILLER BEFORE PUBLISHING – Pictured in Redfern today are vape pens which were tested by Professor Renee Bittoun who is a nicotine addiction expert, and found all to contain nicotine. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Tasmania has the nation’s second highest smoking rate at 17.6 per cent. It beggars’ belief the state government continues to ignore this evidence and the potential of nicotine e-cigarettes to reduce the smoking rate.

Are we supposed to believe places like the United Kingdom, Japan, and New Zealand have got it wrong?

Everyone can see the lunacy of all this — you can buy cigarettes at a corner store or supermarket, but you need a prescription to use a less harmful alternative and there are no doctors in Tasmania who can prescribe it, and if you do get a telehealth prescription, you have to order the product online.

Robert Mallett is executive officer of the Tasmanian Small Business Council.