Vape shop owners across Western Australia (WA) have recently received a warning from the WA health department, asking them to cease operations within 14 days. While 32 retailers had their vape products confiscated. The six-week health crackdown has led to authorities seizing over 15,000 e-cigarettes, valued at more than $500,000 across the state.
“I’m very concerned that most (users) are vaping on nicotine and becoming addicted, and that we’re going to see a whole new generation of people addicted to nicotine,” said WA chief pharmacist Meeghan Clay. “People importing these products and selling them are trying to avoid detection by not having them labelled as containing nicotine. When you buy a vape, you don’t know what’s in that vape.”
In response to this, in a letter dated Wednesday July 20th, vaping activists from around the world called on Australia’s Ministry of Health, urging it to cease the ongoing attacks against the local vape industry.
Meanwhile, the recently fined WA individual allegedly imported nicotine vaping products without the required approval. His package was intercepted and seized at the border and contained many more products than allowable under the Personal Importation Scheme.
Australia’s prescription model is not working
Australian tobacco harm reduction expert Dr Colin Mendelsohn, had explained that the prescription model introduced in Australia does not work as it makes the products difficult to access, creating a higher demand and subsequent growth in the black market.
“The government’s set up this complex system which just isn’t working; to find a GP who will prescribe and then to find a pharmacy that will sell it – it’s just not a workable solution,” he said. “So people are going to the black market to buy unregulated products and the black market is thriving and selling these products to kids.”
Earlier this month Australian Public Health and Tobacco Treatment expert Dr. Colin Mendelsohn, launched a campaign consisting of a series of eight short evidence-based videos on vaping, with the aim of combatting the current misinformation being spread across Australia.
‘Dr Col’s Vape Truths’, is an evidenced-based video campaign on nicotine vaping, designed to combat the ongoing rampant misinformation currently being spread by state health departments, particularly in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.
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