Australia’s Crackdown on Vaping Has Loopholes: It Has Created a Huge Black Market

News today, March 30, reports that Australian high school student Matt* has never smoked in his life, but he started vaping at the age of 14.

This 17-year-old does not want to use his real name in this story because he has hidden his vaping addiction from his family, and he says he is not sure why he started.

But he remembers that he first vaped in his brother's room, and since then, he says he can easily get them from his friends whenever he wants.

"My friends and I started to really learn vape tricks," he laughs.

"But now I vape alone more often than with others. It feels like you hit pause on the day... I use it to escape all the stress happening."

Matt is one of thousands of teenagers under 18 in New Zealand who regularly vape, even though it is illegal.

A survey by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation and the Secondary Principals Association found that 27% of young people had vaped in the past week, and more are starting to vape.

The ASH Year 10 Snapshot measuring smoking and vaping behavior shows that the number of students using e-cigarettes has jumped from 12% in 2019 to 20% in 2022.

In an attempt to stop more young people from becoming addicted to nicotine e-cigarettes, health experts and schools are calling on the government to follow Australia's lead and make e-cigarettes available only by prescription or sold only in pharmacies.

However, due to a small loophole, this approach has led to a booming black market.

Since 2021, e-cigarettes have been classified as prescription-only medications in Australia. This means that nicotine e-cigarettes can only be legally obtained by adults who have a doctor's prescription to quit smoking.

But two years after this law was passed, people living in Australia say e-cigarettes are just as easy to obtain as before, whether or not you have a prescription.

Kate Price, 25, who lives in Sydney, Australia, says she didn't even realize the law had changed.

"You can still buy e-cigarettes from tobacco shops and corner stores, sometimes it seems easier than buying cigarettes because e-cigarettes are not as discreet as cigarettes. They still display various flavors," she says.

"I feel like making them illegal hasn't changed anything."

Archibald McGill, a photographer living in Melbourne, says he tried vaping for a few days to quit smoking but found it gave him headaches and hurt his lungs.

But when we went to buy e-cigarettes, he says there was no mention of needing a prescription.

"In the central business district, you can't walk a block without passing a shop selling e-cigarettes, so I didn't even know you were supposed to have a prescription. I just walked into a store and bought one without asking any questions."

Lizzie Carmine, 25, a New Zealander who recently moved to Melbourne, says she doesn't vape, but almost everyone she knows does—and no one has a prescription.

"Stores sell them illegally, so you can still buy them, but they don't have ingredient lists and don't advertise that they contain nicotine. So you really don't know how much nicotine you're consuming."

Obvious Loopholes in Australia's Crackdown on Vaping

"The problem is that nicotine-free e-cigarettes are still legal, so retailers and manufacturers are peeling off labels and repackaging nicotine e-cigarettes so they don't say they contain nicotine," says Emily Jenkinson, a researcher at the Cancer Council of New South Wales.

"Therefore, when law enforcement searches a store, they don't know which contain nicotine and which are legal. They have to send them away for testing, which takes a lot of time and money and slows everything down."

An ABC investigation into black market e-cigarettes found that e-cigarettes labeled as nicotine-free actually contain the highest levels of nicotine on the market—if the levels were any higher, they would cause physical discomfort to users.

Jenkinson says the solution to Australia's black market problem is to make nicotine-free e-cigarettes available only by prescription and in pharmacies.

"Then, if law enforcement enters a non-pharmacy store, any e-cigarette products they see can be taken away, and any e-cigarette products not destined for pharmacies can be seized at the border without testing." #p#分页标题#e#

Taiwan has recently done this and banned all e-cigarettes, including the manufacture, import, sale, supply, exhibition, advertising, and use of both nicotine and non-nicotine e-cigarettes.

They have also increased penalties for violations. Reports today indicate that manufacturing or importing e-cigarettes can result in fines of up to 2.65 million New Zealand dollars, and if caught vaping, one can be fined 529 New Zealand dollars on the spot.

Jenkinson says if New Zealand learns from Australia's mistakes, strict legislation will work wonders in reducing youth vaping.

However, Dr. Jude Ball from the University of Otago's Public Health Department in Wellington says New Zealand is unlikely to go down the prescription-only route, as the health department wants to support smokers in transitioning and avoid any barriers to that.

"We have the right regulations to prevent non-smokers, especially children, from vaping while ensuring that e-cigarettes are available to those who want to transition from smoking, which is very important," she says.

"We have many children vaping, and even primary school principals say this is an issue in primary schools. We clearly haven't achieved the right balance. Therefore, we need to strengthen regulation."

Matt Burgess, product manager at the Public Health Agency Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui, states that currently, New Zealand has no plans to restrict e-cigarettes to prescription-only status, as this would create significant barriers for existing smokers using e-cigarettes to help them quit.

Proposed E-cigarette Regulations for New Zealand

The government launched a public consultation in January to update e-cigarette regulations to combat youth vaping.

Some of the government's proposals include restricting e-cigarette sales to R18 specialty stores, lowering nicotine content, and mandating plain packaging like cigarettes.

Ball states that these regulations are a good start but are far from sufficient, and hopes to see a minimum price for e-cigarettes enforced above $20.

"We need to address the fact that there are very cheap e-cigarettes available, so there is no cost barrier for young people—unlike cigarettes."

"Therefore, if only more expensive e-cigarette products are available, that may not be a barrier for smokers. But it could be a barrier for children and young people," she says.

Ball also hopes to see disposable e-cigarettes completely banned, as these are often the most popular among young people. Following a vote by the Glasgow City Council to reduce excessive electronic waste, Scotland is currently exploring a ban on disposable e-cigarettes.

Ball also hopes to see targeted advertising and gamified marketing aimed at children and young people being cracked down on. One example is Alt's promotion, where customers receive a free pod pack for every 10 pod packs purchased.

Most importantly, Ball says changing the names of flavors and packaging to reduce their appeal to young people is a good idea. However, limiting flavors is tricky because they find that people transition from cigarettes to prefer sweeter fruit-flavored e-cigarettes.

"So we don't want to reduce the appeal of e-cigarettes for those wanting to quit smoking."

What if these regulations create a black market in New Zealand?

"The tobacco industry has a history of exaggerating the black market argument to try to evade regulation," says Chris Wilkins, associate professor and head of the drug research team at Massey University's SHORE & Whariki Research Centre.

"But the black market is not a reason to do nothing. I always argue that if your regulation is too lax, then by avoiding the black market, you haven't really achieved anything because your legal market has created all the adverse effects. When you already have the worst-case scenario, what is the point of avoiding the black market?"

Wilkins states that there are low-hanging fruits in regulating New Zealand's legal e-cigarette market before triggering a black market like Australia's. He says the key is to invest in enforcement of regulations.

"If you can't enforce these regulations, then introducing all these regulations is meaningless, just like we see in Australia."

"If retailers can get away with it, then it doesn't matter how many laws and regulations you have. They won't care."

All e-cigarette products must notify the health department before they can be legally sold in New Zealand.

Burgess told Re: News that the agency continues to investigate violations in the industry and respond to complaints about e-cigarette products sold in New Zealand, but these complaints have not yet been reported to the agency.

"If the agency confirms through investigation that a product has not been notified, it will educate the seller about the legal obligations under the act and require them to stop selling that product immediately. Any further violations may lead to enforcement action," he said. #p#分页标题#e#