The Australian government has announced a blanket ban on the import of disposable vapes from January 1, raising concerns it could further fuel the dangerously unregulated black market.
The crackdown on vaping has been slowly increasing since 2020, with nicotine vapes already banned unless medically prescribed, leading to unauthorized sellers flooding the country with millions of the products.
The products are sold “under the counter” online and in some vape shops or convenience stores, while other sellers are getting around the ban in new ways, with one photo showing a “vape shop” in a shiny Uber car.
The new ban, which will come into effect from next year, goes further by banning the import of all disposable vapes, regardless of whether they are labeled as containing nicotine or not.
The government will also introduce legislation to prevent the domestic production, advertising, supply and commercial possession of non-therapeutic and disposable single-use vapes.
The government will ban the import of all disposable vapes from next year, raising fears this will fuel the black market with high demand and resources to enforce the ban stretched (photo: a ‘vape shop’ in a Telsa Uber )
Under the new rules, vapes can still be obtained through licensed retailers, using a prescription from a doctor or nurse as a means of quitting smoking.
The government will allocate a further $25 million to the Australian Border Force and $56.9 million to the Therapeutic Goods Administration over the next two years to help enforce the ban.
Further changes will apply later this year, including a ban on importing all non-therapeutic vapes, people importing their own vaping products and limiting the flavors, packaging and advertising available.
The law also includes penalties of up to two prison terms for those who violate the ban on importing vapes.
“Vaping was marketed to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.
‘It wasn’t sold as a recreational product, and certainly not as a product aimed at our children, but that’s what it became. The vast majority of vapes contain nicotine and children are becoming addicted.”
The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, led by vaping advocate Brian Marlow, recently removed billboards in the ACT and Queensland showing a photo of the Prime Minister with the caption: ‘Under Albo vaping ban you could get two years in jail’ .
Tobacco control expert Professor Becky Freeman from the University of Sydney told The Guardian that the billboards make it seem like the government is targeting individuals buying vapes online from abroad for personal use, when that is not the case.
“The new vaping laws are designed to hold the vaping manufacturing and retail industries accountable for getting Australian teenagers hooked on cheap, flavored and dangerous products,” she said.
The Albanian government will introduce a series of measures next year in a bid to make Australia the first country in the world to restrict vaping to therapeutic smoking cessation aids available by prescription
But Mr Marlow claims Mr Butler’s actions “single-handedly” created “the largest black market in Australian history”.
Health authorities have routinely called for better regulation, with NSW Health this month linking a fatal overdose to black market vape juice refills containing an unlabeled nitasen-class opioid.
According to the World Health Organization, nitazenes were discovered by Swiss chemists in the 1950s but were never approved for medical use due to their extreme potency.
Mr Marlow alleged that more than 100 million illegal, unregulated vape products without ingredient standards had been smuggled into the country from China and sold on the black market.
“That the Albanian government thinks it can solve this crisis with a ban on recreational vaping for adults and a doubling down on the failed prescription-only ban model is completely disconnected from reality and community expectations,” said the Mr Marlow.
“China is taking advantage of Mark Butler’s weakness by using tactics that can only be described as a reverse opium war.”
Mr Marlow claimed there were similar results in Australia to how the US failed with its ban on alcohol – an ‘out of control black market run by criminals selling dangerous, unregulated products to anyone who will buy them’.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration – which oversees the approval of prescription drugs and medications – laid out the near-total ban earlier this year in an official consultation document that went largely under the radar (pictured)
“China regulates its own domestic vaping industry in the same way it regulates alcohol and tobacco; However, the country is letting its manufacturers do whatever they want in the unregulated vapes destined to be sold illegally in Australia,” Mr Marlow said.
“It is no coincidence that Australia has an out-of-control black market and is the only country in the world that restricts access to nicotine vapes by prescription only.”
In October alone, more than 400,000 individual vaping products (or 30 tonnes) were seized during a joint campaign by the ABF and the Therapeutic Goods Administration to tackle the importation of air cargo and international mail into Australia.
About 376,000 items, or 92 percent of the seized goods, were illegal and at least 68 percent were disposable vapes from brands that previously did not meet minimum safety and quality standards.
The loot had an estimated street value of $11 million.