No, vaporizers should not be available outside pharmacies (for now)

New national vaping laws came into force in Australia this week, meaning nicotine vaporizers will be available for adults over the counter from pharmacies. However, at least two states, Tasmania and Western Australia, have committed to keeping them as prescription-only products. But should vaporizers be available outside pharmacies? This is a topic that our opponents are discussing in today’s Friday fight.

Criminologist James Martin is on the affirmative team, while pharmacy professor Kathryn Steadman is on the negative team.

From July 1 this year, the only way to legally purchase a vaporizer in Australia was from a pharmacy. This includes everything to do with vaporizers, from devices to liquids, whether they contain nicotine or not.

When we talk about “vapes” in pharmacies, we need to make this clear. Gone are the days of flavors such as Hubba Bubba, Sugar Cookie or Mango Tango. Vapes are currently intended for therapeutic use only and are subject to higher quality requirements, packaging restrictions and nicotine limits. Flavors may only include mint, menthol or tobacco.

In Australia, it is now necessary to restrict vaping to pharmacies. We must stop the rapid increase in the use of questionable vaporizers over the last decade. The law required a prescription for nicotine-containing vaping products, but allowed vaporizers and nicotine-free devices to be widely available in convenience stores and vape shops.

Unfortunately, very few people have received a prescription for nicotine-containing vaporizers. Buying vaporizers over the counter has been easy because retailers often – and still – ignore the regulations. It is common knowledge that vape pens purchased on the high street often contain nicotine, even if they are marketed as “nicotine-free”. This means that people experimenting with supposedly nicotine-free vapes were actually using a product that laid the foundation for addiction and dependence problems.

Of particular concern is the rapid increase in e-cigarette use among young people, with around 10% of Australian teenagers aged 14 to 17 reporting that they have vaped. E-cigarette suppliers design their marketing specifically to attract young people, and child-friendly flavors mask the presence of nicotine, leading to unintended nicotine addiction.

Although nicotine itself is not very hazardous to health in most adults, it is harmful to the developing brain, where it can change structure and function. Therefore, the use of nicotine products should be avoided during pregnancy and during childhood and adolescence.

However, the addictive properties of nicotine are significant and affect everyone; users become addicted to nicotine just to be able to function normally. Stopping nicotine use is extremely difficult, as any smoker can attest, and withdrawal symptoms take a serious physical, mental and emotional toll on the person trying to quit.

The health effects of long-term inhalation of non-nicotine ingredients of vaporization liquids are also worrying. Our lungs are not designed to withstand the constant, daily assault of chemicals. While there are certainly fewer unpleasant substances inhaled from vaporizers than tobacco, substances that are safe to ingest are not necessarily suitable for repeated inhalation over many years.

Switching completely from tobacco to vaporizers significantly reduces your overall health risks compared to continuing to smoke. Therefore, it is important that people who want to quit smoking have easy access to vaporizers as part of the wide range of quitting options available. However, for anyone who has not smoked before, inhaling vaping liquids should definitely be avoided.

For those who want to use vaporizers to quit smoking, improving the quality of the devices is important. The first step was to remove flavors like Hubba Bubba. Therapeutic vaporizers will soon become the next type of nicotine replacement therapy to help people quit smoking. This will happen when their quality, safety and effectiveness meet the standards applicable to other medical devices.

Australia already has one therapeutic vaporizer available in most pharmacies that is well on its way to meeting these standards. Collecting evidence is expensive and time-consuming, so it won’t happen overnight. In the meantime, pharmacies providing only the highest quality products ensures that therapeutic vaporizers are available to smokers trying to quit, while eliminating vaporizers from the community and limiting access to them for young people.

Pharmacies are already experienced providers of smoking cessation services. They offer advice and advice on the full range of aids and medicines available to stop smoking. This is the perfect place to introduce therapeutic vaporizers as an option for those who have had difficulty quitting using existing methods.

In the future, medicinal vaporizers may be sold in stores other than pharmacies. The drug scheduling system currently allows this for other nicotine-containing products. Nicotine patches, gums and mouth sprays were once only available by prescription or in pharmacies. Their schedule was gradually reduced as their quality, safety and effectiveness were established, making them more available as smoking cessation aids. The same can happen with therapeutic vaporizers.