Legalise Vaping Says Reports Of Vaping In Schools Highlight Australia’s Policy Shambles

MEDIA STATEMENT : Legalise Vaping Says Reports Of Vaping In Schools Highlight Australia’s Policy Shambles

Revelations of widespread vaping use by Queensland schoolkids come as no surprise to anyone with even a basic understanding of how black markets come into being and thrive.

The focus on this issue serves only to demonstrate the catastrophically bad design of Australia’s vaping regulations.

The policy of the Commonwealth Government, through its misguided determination to stop adults getting access to vaping products in well-regulated retail environments, has led to the creation of thriving under-the-counter markets and online stores that are completely unregulated.

Schoolkids should not be smoking, nor should they be vaping. Legalise Vaping Australia has long advocated for a commercial model for vaping product retailing, just like cigarettes.

The Commonwealth Government, from the Health Minister to the TGA and numerous government funded anti-smoking organisations, have consistently told the public that putting vaping products in the control of GPs and pharmacies would prevent children from having access to them.

It is clear this is not working and a regulatory overhaul is urgently required.

People who need reasonable access to vaping products to stop them from going back to smoking are having to jump through ridiculous hoops.

Meanwhile real criminals, who prey on children, are laughing in the face of government incompetence.

It’s time the government took tobacco harm reduction seriously by alleviating the already enormous strain on GPs and pharmacies by allowing vaping products to be sold on production of proof of age, just as they are in New Zealand and the UK.