Australia waters down vape laws

[Toby iVapour]

Australia waters down world-first vape laws

Australia has watered down its world-first law banning vapes outside of pharmacies - with access now not restricted to prescription-only.

www.clearingtheair.eu

Medicinal vapes to be sold over the counter at pharmacies after Labor and Greens reach deal

Government’s original proposal would have made vapes a prescription-only product but Greens raised concerns about criminalising users and cost of seeing a GP

www.theguardian.com

Butler's backflip. Still a disaster and bound to fail - Dr Colin Mendelsohn

MARK BUTLER’S “WORLD-LEADING” Vaping Reform Bill is likely to pass the Senate with amendments, thanks to the support of the Greens. The Bill still requires a vote in the Senate to become law. The Bill has been marginally improved by removing the need for a doctor’s prescription to purchase vapes...

colinmendelsohn.com.au

The Bill has been marginally improved by removing the need for a doctor's prescription to purchase vapes legally in Australia.

Even if passed, the new regulations are still fatally flawed and are the beginning of a slow motion collapse of Australia’s de facto prohibition vaping policy.

 

[Toby iVapour]

Australian Compromise Vape Bill: A Kinder, Gentler Prohibition

The Australian Senate will vote this week on a watered-down compromise version of the Labor Party’s proposed vaping sales restrictions.

vaping360.com

It will still require a prescription for pharmacy purchases from July 1 to Oct. 1. After that, adults will be able to purchase vapes—in plain packaging, and in tobacco, menthol and mint flavors only—from pharmacies without a prescription.

Longtime advocate Colin Mendelsohn wrote in his blog today that the poor selection of products, limited flavors, high prices, and the necessity that vapers and potential vapers interact with poorly informed and hostile pharmacists, will encourage vapers to instead buy products on the extensive black market.

“There is widespread consensus that the black market will continue to thrive,” writes Mendelsohn. “Costly policing and border control are no match for organised criminal networks and this highly lucrative industry will continue to provide alternatives.”

Meanwhile, convenience stores and tobacco shops have been caught in the middle of turf wars between gangs seeking control of the lucrative black market in disposable vapes and illicit, untaxed cigarettes. Dozens of stores have been burned or firebombed.

Vaping Bill Passes: A Pyrrhic Victory for Mark Butler [Media release] - Dr Colin Mendelsohn

Today, the Labor government’s amended *Vaping Reform Bill was successfully passed in the federal Senate. Starting from 1 October 2024, vapes will be available only through pharmacies as a pharmacist-only (Schedule 3) medicine, removing the need for a doctor’s prescription. While seen as a...

colinmendelsohn.com.au

The pharmacy model will fail just as the prescription model did.

The public can expect to witness an escalation in crime, including firebombing of vape and tobacco shops, extortion, and the potential involvement of young people in criminal activity, with the grave risk of harm to innocent bystanders.

 

[Deleted member 78733]

Watered down. Technically yeah but still the closure of all shops and online retail of them along with it being illegal to buy from overseas. Every shop and place I buy from has sent me closure emails. The only watering down has been the prescription side of things.
I remember months and months ago when I told everyone this was coming and I was Mr Chicken Little. Told that "hey, the Vaping Bogan says its never gonna happen and he knows, chill out itll never happen" yeah really, he was so wrong the clown left Australia . He was the worst front line vaping advocate imaginable. You couldn't have invented one worse.

 

[CzesiuB]

I knew that the traditions will eventually win. While the British Empire ceased to exist it is good to see that the local government in Australia wants to keep the peoples there reminded that they do live in the prison island.
Wonderful and truly amusing.

 

[Les53]

Well this is yet another case of a heavy handed government removing a bit more personal choice and freedom . Apparently using the excuse that they don’t want kids getting addicted to nicotine, well that’s how it looks. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

I’ve no idea what stance our next U.K. government is going to take, but I doubt if they are going to make life any easier for us.

Look I’m not an expert, but so what if people get addicted to nicotine? Apparently nicotine itself is harmless.

The world has too many over controlling governments, often supported by big companies with some kind of vested interest in something, pharmaceutical and banking firms are just two that spring to mind.

We will have to wait and see.

 

[Toby iVapour]

Watered down. Technically yeah but still the closure of all shops and online retail of them along with it being illegal to buy from overseas. Every shop and place I buy from has sent me closure emails. The only watering down has been the prescription side of things.

Yes, and it annoys me to see the Guardian (Aus version) saying stuff like -

By abandoning the prescription-only model, this is no longer anything resembling prohibition.

With the Liberals non-committal on vaping, Labor has been driven into the arms of ‘anti-prohibition’ Greens

July deadline means ALP eager to reach agreement, despite some advocates warning against watering down the crackdown

www.theguardian.com

They (the media, politicians, whoever) just don't fucking get it, do they...

 

[CzesiuB]

Yet Australia is a strange place. The Nazi styled caps for "infected" or "potentially infected", the gestapo (Geheime Staadt Polizei) styled lockdown enforcing... it seem that there is a crypto-dictatorship...
What is worrying is that the Australia is not alone, it is enough to take a look on the Canada...
Or, equity of religions in the UK, where all religions are equal. Apart from one which is clearly promoted and one which is openly discriminated.

Personally I'm afraid that we all are going back to the "freedom" of 30's last century, country by country, under the funny flags with various rainbow colours.
Well, to be honest I cannot say it wasn't predicted and clearly explained decades ago by one smart guy...

 

[Toby iVapour]

Interesting article here, telling first hand how hard it is to get a vape on prescription in Aus -

I Tried Getting A Vape Prescription and Was Prescribed Star Jumps Instead

My 2024 Wishlist included Botox, a taser, and a government-issued vape. This week, nearing the end of my 13th “my last vape I will ever purchase”, I decided to conquer the easiest and cheapest of my wishes.

www.vice.com

Star jumps ..lol..