Australia to Launch Senate Inquiry Into Vaping to Set Clear E-Cig Laws

Source from:  Vapingpost 10/12/2020

Sadly, Australia has in recent years become renowned for maintaining an unreasonable forbidding stance with regards to tobacco harm reduction (THR). Last July, the Federal Health Minister of Australia Greg Hunt, infamously announced ongoing talks with the country’s Border Force, with regards to a ban on the importation of vape liquid containing nicotine. The measure was to go into effect on July 1st, and anyone caught violating this regulation was to be fined $220,000.

This announcement naturally caused an outrage amongst THR experts and vaping advocates. To this effect, a number of organizations and entities, including 28 Coalition MPs, took action and Australian Senator Matthew Canavan and MP George Christensen, started a petition to overturn the import ban and to instead have nicotine legalized and regulated.

The impending unreasonable ban

In response to these actions Health Minister Greg Hunt had decided to delay the ban by six months, at least giving vapers a grace period to find alternative smoking cessation aids. However, if the ban goes into effect unamended, while vapers would technically still be able to obtain nicotine e-liquids through a doctor’s prescription, in reality not many would manage.

As it stands, influenced by current laws and misconceptions, most doctors are already unwilling to write nicotine prescriptions. Therefore, given the added complex and time-consuming requirements which would be set in place the new measure, even fewer doctors will be inclined to write prescriptions.  Enditem