Australia bans recreational use of vapes – Kommersant

Australian authorities have sharply tightened lawsregulating the sale and use of e-cigarettes and vapes in the hope of addressing the rise in teen and youth smoking. Experts called the measures the most ambitious reform of the smoking industry in more than a decade.

According to last year’s surveys, one in six Australians aged 14-17 and one in four aged 18-24 used e-cigarettes or vapes at least once. Under current laws in Australia, nicotine-containing vapes could only be purchased on prescription as part of therapy to reduce the cravings for smoking conventional cigarettes. There were no restrictions on vapes and non-nicotine electronic cigarettes. However, according to the government, under the guise of nicotine-free products, imported nicotine vapes, often with pleasant tastes, colorful, stylish forms, have flooded the country, which attracts children and teenagers. And they were sold in any grocery and tobacco stores.

Now the authorities prohibit the import of vapes that are not prescribed by doctors. All vapes are required to be packaged in the same packaging as pharmaceutical products and sold in pharmacies to make it clear that this product is used solely to help smokers get rid of their habit. It is forbidden to sell disposable vapes and vapes in colorful packages with pleasant aromas. The level of nicotine content in authorized vapes will be reduced, and its volume in the device will also be less.

Alena Miklashevskaya