Retail vape sales may be banned in Australia this year. Is this simply the new frontier of an old war? And could prohibition actually work? Watch the latest Insight episode The Ban on Vapes, on .
Alec has been addicted to nicotine since he started smoking at 14 — a choice he regrets every day.
“I knew that it was bad for me. I was at that age where, to be honest, I didn’t particularly care,” he told Insight.
When he left school and started a career in the construction industry, the reality of his addiction began to set in.
“As I got older — 15, 16, 17 — I really started to recognise that I couldn’t function day to day without smoking cigarettes or nicotine … And every winter, I would have a constant cough.”
He tried to quit many times.
“I’ve tried using patches. They don’t work very well for me. I tried Champix (a medicine to stop adults stop smoking), but I had really severe side effects.”
“Every time I went back to smoking.
“Until I found vapes,” he says, switching to them over cigarettes.
Alec started smoking cigarettes when he was 14. Source: Supplied
The laws around vaping in Australia
Earlier this year the federal government banned the importation of non-therapeutic vapes into Australia, but it remains lawful to sell them in stores for now — provided they don’t contain nicotine.
Those needing help to stop smoking or with nicotine dependence can legally obtain a vape containing nicotine through a prescription from a GP or nurse practitioner (though these don’t offer the flavour options of non-therapeutic vapes).
A bill introduced by federal Health Minister Mark Butler in March includes new offences and civil penalties for the importation, manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of non-therapeutic vaping goods.
While Alec has reluctantly accessed the government’s new prescription model, he fears the hassle could drive him back to tobacco smoking.
“If it’s going through a pharmacist and jumping through all of the hoops … the implications would be that I go to any tobacconist down the road [and] I buy a packet of cigarettes,” he said.
Vape use is on the rise in Australia, while tobacco smoking is declining. In 2022-2023, 8.3 per cent of people over 14 were smoking tobacco daily, which is “lower than ever before”, according to the federal government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Meanwhile, the proportion of people smoking e-cigarettes, or vapes, almost tripled from 2.5 per cent in 2019 to 7 per cent in 2022–2023.
The federal health department warns vapes can contain over 200 different chemicals, which can be harmful to lungs and overall health.
While levels of cigarette smoking are going down, vape use is rising. Source: Supplied
Butler has labelled the reforms a “step up” in the fight against youth vaping, but other experts argue the reforms could have the opposite effect.
‘The second largest illegal drug market in the country’
Dr James Martin is a criminologist at Deakin University in Victoria. He sees the proposed ban on non-therapeutic vapes as “a gift to the black market”, which he estimates could be worth around $2 billion in Australia.
“We have around 1.5 million Australians who are vaping illegally. And that makes it the second largest illegal drug market in the country, just behind cannabis,” he said.
Such profit margins have sparked violence in Victoria, where upwards of 65 tobacconists have been firebombed in just over a year in what’s been dubbed the ‘Tobacco Wars’ in the media.
Victoria Police investigate a suspicious fire at a tobacco store in Hadfield, Melbourne. The profits associated with the black market for vapes have contributed to violence across Victoria, where upwards of 65 tobacconists have been firebombed. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett
Victoria Police have set up Taskforce Lunar in response to the problem.
Martin believes it will be hard for the Australian Border Force and health authorities to control the black market for vapes, just like it has been for illicit drugs.
“Despite record arrests, and tens of billions of dollars being spent, illegal drugs are cheaper, more potent, more readily available, and more widely used than they have ever been.”
“You could double the amount of funding for all of those agencies, and you would still have a massive black market.”
Martin says taxation on vapes is a valid suggestion, though if it’s too high, it will only push people to access vapes illegally.
‘A world leader in controlling the problem’
Professor Emily Banks, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at the Australian National University, is in favour of a ban.
She says despite the black market, Australia’s hardline stance on vapes has already proved effective.
“Even though there are issues with illicit trade, we actually are a world leader in controlling the problem,” Banks told Insight.
“We hear a lot of rhetoric saying, ‘the whole thing’s failed, the whole thing’s terrible, the genie’s out of the bottle’. But actually, 70 per cent to 80 per cent of our young people have never vaped.”
She believes we have “a window of opportunity” to reduce vaping in young people.
“Internationally, people are looking to Australia, and they’re very interested to see how our model will work out.”
“I think it’s important to know that in countries where e-cigarettes or vapes are available commercially, there’s much more youth use.”
‘Extremely concerning’ stories
Rochelle Lewis, the principal of Elanora State High School on the Gold Coast, has seen the vaping problem among young people firsthand.
“At the end of 2021 … we knew that there were some serious issues happening with young people and vaping,” she told Insight.
She says the habit affected all kinds of students.
“We were seeing students that ordinarily would make very good decisions in schools, who are in sports excellence programs and academic excellence programs, getting into trouble for vaping. ”
“They were leaving classes to go and vape. And so we were dealing with addiction in children as young as 12. For us, that was hard because it was also hard to detect.”
Lewis said her students would source their vapes from diverse places.
“There had been some stories, which were extremely concerning, of some children as young as Year Seven meeting dealers on Instagram pages.”
Her school used to issue suspensions and punitive measures for students caught vaping. Now it offers intensive education around addiction, teaching students about the dangers of vapes and advising them how to make informed choices about their health.
At her Gold Coast high school, principal Rochelle Lewis is focusing on educating her students on the dangers of vaping and ways to manage addiction. Source: Supplied
“We were looking at the root cause of the problem being addiction [so] we had to deal with the root cause, not the symptoms of the addiction, which was the vaping and the vandalism,” Lewis said.
“With the support of health professionals and the five-day intensive reteach, we’ve had no re-offenders who have been caught. [They] go through those programs and get help for addiction.”
‘I want to be able to choose’
Alec has a four-year-old son and worries about the rise of youth vaping in the community.
“I wouldn’t want my son to do it. I hope that’s a path he never goes down. I wish for me that I never smoked at all. But I’m here now and I’ve got to deal with it.”
Alec desperately hopes his four-year-old son won’t be tempted to smoke when he’s older because he knows how hard it is to quit. Source: Supplied
Alec believes having to access vapes through a prescription is too restrictive on adults.
“I want to be able to quit when I’m ready. I want to be able to choose how I quit.”
“Instead of it just being shoved down my throat or being told ‘no’.”
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