University of Queensland Drug Expert Urges Australia to Reconsider Nicotine Vaping Regulations

According to reports today on April 19, a drug expert at the University of Queensland in Australia has suggested that selling nicotine vaping products through licensed stores with strict age-verification procedures would limit youth use and help adult smokers quit.

Wayne Hall, Emeritus Professor at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland, said the current regulations on nicotine vaping in Australia are ineffective, a view he said has also been acknowledged by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

"In Australia, nicotine vaping products can legally be prescribed only by a doctor and sold through pharmacies to adults who want to quit smoking," Professor Hall said.

"Instead, we are seeing a thriving black market selling unregulated vaping products to both children and adults, and very few adult vaping users are using the legal prescription pathway."

Professor Hall recommended that the industry adopt an age-restricted consumer model.

"Over time, black-market profits would decline, illegal sales would decrease, and most of the market would be replaced by a legal, regulated market."

The 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that vaping was Australia's most popular aid for quitting smoking and reducing cigarette consumption, and research found it to be more effective than nicotine replacement therapy.

Professor Hall said that if people had never smoked before, vaping was not common among them. Evidence suggests that nicotine vaping is not a gateway product, but rather may steer young people away from smoking.

Professor Hall said policymakers need to strike a balance between making nicotine vaping products conveniently available to adult smokers and restricting access by young people.

"The main goal is to reduce smoking-related deaths and disease," Professor Hall said. "Neither vaping nor nicotine replacement therapy is risk-free, but vaping is a less harmful option for adult smokers. Policymakers need to consider the harmful and unintended consequences of overregulation."

The full commentary was published in Drug and Alcohol Review in collaboration with Dr. Colin Mendelsohn of Sydney General Practice Clinic and Dr. Alex Wodak, Emeritus Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital.