The Green Party in Australia passed an amendment to the law banning e-cigarettes and their use without a doctor’s prescription, and from October e-cigarettes whose sale and use without a prescription were banned so far in Australia will be sold by pharmacies to adults over 18 without requiring a prescription from a doctor.
E-cigarettes were banned in Australia in 2018 because they contain liquid nicotine that was considered a schedule 4 poison if it was not found in tobacco leaves in the form in which it is found in nature. This followed the outbreak of acute respiratory problems in the US in 2017 in the form of an illness that was named EVALI caused in users of vaping devices by contraband vapes containing cannabis products. With the amendment passed by the Green Party, which, unlike the Albanese government of the Labor Party, opposed the ban with the main opposition of the National Party, liquid nicotine was transferred to the 3rd schedule of poisons and e-cigarettes from October will be sold from pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription, packaged in undecorated uniform packaging without flavours other than mint forms and tobacco flavour.
Under the amendment, reached by mutual consent with the Labor government and the Australian Green Party, any prospective buyer of e-cigarettes with nicotine limits will be required to show ID.
The Green Party said the original arrangement requiring a doctor’s appointment and prescription for vapes would create prohibitive costs for some users and potentially push them towards the illegal black market. The party’s health spokesman, Jordon Steele-John, expressed his concern about the prohibitive approach to vapes.
Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said: “These laws protect young Australians and the broader community from the harms of recreational vaping, while ensuring that those who really need access to a therapeutic vape for help to quit smoking can get one from their local pharmacy.”
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