How should Australia regulate nicotine vaping products? – new research
Posted on April 19, 2023 By Colin
NICOTINE VAPING PRODUCTS should be sold to adult smokers from licensed retail outlets without a nicotine prescription in Australia as they are in all other western countries. This was the conclusion of our peer-reviewed study, published today in Drug and Alcohol Review.
The current prescription-only model has been rejected by doctors and consumers and has created a thriving illicit market selling dodgy, mislabeled vape products freely to children and adults.
Getting the balance right
The paramount objective for regulating vaping must be to reduce smoking-related death and disease. Vaping is the most effective quitting aid available for smokers but is not for non-smokers, especially young people.
The challenge for policymakers is to find the optimal balance between making vapes accessible to help adult smokers quit, while restricting access to young people
Regulation should reflect the lower harms of vaping compared to smoking. A much lighter touch regulatory approach than for smoking is required.
How to regulate vaping
Nicotine vaping products should be reclassified as consumer goods, like cigarettes (not as medicines) and regulated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). This would bring Australia into line with all other western countries, such as the UK, NZ, US and Canada.
Nicotine liquids should be sold from specialist vape shops and pharmacies but also from general retail outlets where tobacco products are available. All retailers would require a licence to sell nicotine liquids from State or Territory Health Departments.
Regulations to prevent youth access include strict age verification at the time of purchase with harsh penalties and loss of licence for under-age sales, strict compliance measures and spot checks.
Under this model, the black-market would become less profitable, illicit sales would diminish over time, being largely replaced by a legal, regulated market
Policy details
Well-intentioned but harsh measures to discourage youth vaping often have unintended negative consequences, for example
- Flavour bans increase smoking by teens and adults
- Increased taxes discourage vaping and increase smoking
- Alarming public health campaigns and warning statements can discourage adults smokers from switching
- Excessively limiting nicotine concentration makes vaping more harmful and less effective
Policy details should include
- Product standards. Australia’s vaping product standards must be upgraded to ensure only high quality and safe products are available. The current TGO 110 standards are inadequate
- Nicotine limits: 20 mg/mL for freebase nicotine; 50 mg/mL for nicotine salt are recommended (as for New Zealand)
- Mandatory labelling standards including a full ingredient list and health warnings comparing the risks to smoking. For example, ‘This product may be addictive but is a far less harmful alternative for adult smokers"
- Bottle size limits, for example, maximum 1800mg nicotine per container (as in New Zealand)
- Notification of compliance with standards prior to marketing (pre-marketing notification)
- Prohibiting descriptive flavour names and images that specifically appeal to youth and unsafe flavouring chemicals
- Some restrictions to apply to public vaping, especially indoors
- Public messaging. Communicating accurately the absolute and relative harms of vaping compared to smoking. Messaging to youth should emphasise that no nicotine-containing product is fully safe to use, all can be addictive, and youth should never start using any tobacco or nicotine product
- Allow restricted, advertising targeted to smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit with a ‘switch’ message. Advertising must not appeal to young people
- A system for reporting adverse effects and recall of unsafe products
- Taxes proportionate to risk, similar to nicotine gum and patches
Conclusion
Australia’s prescription-only model for vaping has failed to achieve its goals. It has led to widespread non-compliance and created a thriving black market selling unregulated products to adults and young people.
The only way to eliminate a black market is to replace it with a legal, regulated one. A carefully regulated consumer model would make legal vaping accessible for adult smokers, ensure the quality and safety of vaping products, reduce youth vaping, generate substantial taxation and stimulate the economy.