The tragic regression of Australia’s tobacco control strategy

Australia was once considered a world leader in tobacco control, successfully reducing local smoking rates from 28% in 1989-90 to 11% in 2020-21. In 2003, the island nation signed the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to reduce tobacco use and has unfortunately fully supported the health authority's prohibitionist approach. As a result, the decline in smoking cessation rates in the country has stalled.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration itself has acknowledged that current policies have failed and led to a thriving black market supplying unregulated vape products to both adults and minors.

In Australia, nicotine vaporizers are now classified as prescription drugs and can only be sold in pharmacies, ostensibly to prevent access by young people and to support adult smokers under medical supervision. However, the Therapeutic Goods Administration itself has admitted that this policy has failed and led to a thriving black market supplying unregulated vape products to both adults and minors.

Sure, effective regulation should strike a balance between facilitating legal access for adult smokers and restricting access for youth. The problem is that the current model makes the products equally inaccessible to adults, in part because many local doctors are reluctant to prescribe the products.

A preferred approach would be a highly regulated consumer model, with licensed retail outlets with strict age verification selling nicotine-containing vaping products. Regulations should be proportionate to the lower risks of vaping compared to smoking. Adopting a consumer model would put Australia on par with other western countries and improve public health outcomes.

Australia's current prescription model pushes adults as well as minors onto the black market

An article by local experts in the field, Dr. Colin Mendelosohn, Dr. Alex Wodak and Dr. Wayne Hall, reiterates that given the complexity, very few adult vapers use the legal prescription route anyway.

Furthermore, a recent investigation by news.com.au found that young Australians can easily purchase illegal products such as nicotine pouches from local tobacconists. Unfortunately, this process is far less complex than purchasing the products through legal channels and simply involves asking for the product, which is then provided to them behind the counter. This once again highlights how much prohibition backfires.

Dr. Mendelsohn, who is not only a recognized researcher but also an award-winning expert in smoking cessation, shared the testimony of Rohan Pike in a recent blog. Pike, founder of the Australian Border Force Tobacco Strike Team, recently testified during the parliamentary inquiry into e-cigarettes in the state of Victoria and stressed that Australia should introduce a regulated retail market for e-cigarettes, similar to that in New Zealand.

The border agency expert criticised the Australian government's e-cigarette ban, saying the ban is ineffective and only encourages criminal activity. He highlighted how criminals adapt to enforcement by changing their methods, such as moving sales online or using safe houses, and argued for strict regulation and sensible excise duties, citing New Zealand's 15 per cent sales tax on e-cigarettes as a successful example.

Pike stressed that e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches are significantly safer than smoking cigarettes and said that switching to these alternatives would benefit public health. He also noted that nicotine use has a long history and a significant portion of the population continues to use it for various reasons, making it difficult to avoid it completely.

The moral panic about vaping among young people is being fuelled by the media

In another blog, Mendelsohn published a University of Queensland analysis that revealed that the Australian media has fuelled the moral panic over youth vaping through sensationalist and biased reporting. He stressed that the media often portray vaping as a “toxic epidemic” or “control failure”, exaggerating the risks and pushing regulators to take harsh action without considering unintended consequences.

Pro-vaping experts are barely mentioned, while critics dominate the coverage. This distorted narrative leads the public to falsely equate the dangers of vaping with those of smoking. The report suggests that a more balanced, factual approach could lead to better education and harm reduction strategies, but current coverage lacks this nuance.

Exaggerations and outright lies

In fact, Dr Mendelsohn argues against the Australian Medical Association and health organisations' push for stricter regulations on vaping, stressing that concerns about youth vaping are often overblown. He highlighted that according to the 2022/23 ASSAD survey, only a small percentage of Australian youth vape regularly, with most only trying it once or twice. The majority of vapers in Australia are adults.

Mendelsohn stresses that serious harm from vaping among youth is rare, exposure to toxic substances is limited, and there is no clear evidence linking vaping to significant health risks or the effects of nicotine on the brain in youth. He also points out that nicotine addiction among youth is rare and manageable.

He reiterated that vaping is less harmful than smoking and other risky behaviors such as binge drinking or drug use. In addition, the number of youth vaping has been declining in several countries and there is actually no evidence that vaping leads to smoking. However, there is significant data suggesting that vaping reduces the number of youth smoking.

A simple, effective and practical approach that is proven to work

In line with his colleagues, Mendelsohn has consistently advocated for a regulated legal market with strict age verification, a ban on youth-appealing flavors, honest education about the risks of vaping, and controlled advertising. He believes such regulations would reduce vaping among youth and provide safer alternatives for adult smokers, as opposed to the current black market.

Are vaping rates among Australian teenagers really as alarming as portrayed in the media?