The federal government cut a deal with the Greens to dump prescriptions for adults in order to clear the way for reforms to pass the Senate.
But the Pharmacy Guild of Australia wants prescriptions to remain in place, arguing pharmacists were healthcare professionals who dispensed medication that had a proven therapeutic benefit.
“Vaping has long-term patient harms, including cancer, lung-scarring and nicotine addiction,” a guild spokesperson said.
“There is limited evidence to support the use of vaping products for smoking cessation and nicotine dependence.
“The Senate’s expectation that community pharmacies become vape retailers, and vape garbage collectors, is insulting.”
The electronic cigarettes will be in plain packaging and regulated and a doctor’s prescription will be the only way someone under the age of 18 can legally purchase a vape as part of the government crackdown.
Pharmacists will need to have a conversation with the user, provide information on health harms and offer alternative ways to stop smoking.
People will need to confirm their identity but pharmacies will not record patients’ data and there will be limitations on the amount of nicotine in each vape.
The government’s deal with the Greens stipulates that people who illegally use vapes will not face criminal penalties and there will be an eight-month amnesty period for personal possession.
Once the reforms are passed, it will be illegal as of July 1 for retailers to sell commercial quantities of vapes if they are not pharmacies and extra funding will be provided to help young people quit smoking.
Their supply, manufacture and import have also been outlawed.
The government’s initial model requiring a prescription would have put undue costs on consumers, Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said.
Vaping was a problem that needed to be addressed and a harm-minimisation approach had to be put in place, he said.
The laws protected young people and the community from recreational vaping “while ensuring that those who really need access to a therapeutic vape for help to quit smoking can get one,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt says his party watered down the rules because “prohibition doesn’t work”.
“History is replete with examples of politicians telling adults not to use certain drugs only to find that doesn’t actually fix the problem,” he said.
“We think it really strikes the right balance and it’ll be a pretty good start.”
The Greens wanted to address the “real public health concern” among children, as flavoured vapes were being marketed to them, Bandt said.
“We wanted to make sure that it was treated as a health issue and kept out of the criminal justice system, and so the changes that we’ve secured mean now … adult vape users and children as well won’t be criminalised for their vape use,” he said.
