With less than three months to go before vapes become available in pharmacies without a prescription, Tasmanian not-for-profit health insurer St Lukes and the Tasmanian Pharmacy Guild are calling on the state government to intervene.
Federal legislation passed late last month initially proposed to make the sale of vapes ‘prescription only’. However, last-minute amendments mean nicotine vapes will become ‘pharmacist only’ from October, making them available without a prescription to anyone 18 years or over.
In addition to the national regulation, Tasmania’s own legislation requires nicotine retailers to be licenced.
St Lukes CEO Paul Lupo said this provided an opportunity for the state government to add an extra layer of protection, similar to Western Australia, where nicotine vapes had been illegal without a prescription for a decade.
“We remain incredibly disappointed by the decision taken by the Senate, that puts the interests of big tobacco ahead of the health of our community,” Mr Lupo said.
“But now, in the lead up to October 1, we have a crucial window to ensure every action is taken to protect our community’s health and prevent these highly addictive products ending up in the hands of our children.
“We’ll be working with the state government, urging them to make Tasmania a leader in this space. We have decades of evidence of the inherent harm of nicotine addiction – now’s the time to act decisively and protect our future generations.”
Tasmanian pharmacists frustrated by the watered-down national laws vow they won’t be forced into becoming vape shops.
The Pharmacy Guild’s Tasmanian branch said pharmacists were not consulted on the amendments they were expected to enforce, and the legislation wouldn’t succeed without their buy-in. Several major national retailers have already stated they won’t stock vapes.
Under the changes, pharmacists need to be satisfied that a vape is clinically appropriate for the buyer – something Pharmacy Guild state President Helen O’Byrne said would be near impossible to manage.
“We administer pharmacist only medicines following consultation with patients, where we establish the therapeutic need,” she said. “Under the amendments, we can’t record patient information when supplying nicotine vapes, which flies in the face of the normal provision of healthcare.
It undermines the role of pharmacists as health care professionals, ultimately asking pharmacists to prescribe unapproved, unregulated, untested vaping products to the public.”
Ms O’Byrne said there remained concerns around pharmacists’ liability if a customer developed vaping-related health issues, insurance impacts, business risks and regulatory compliance. It also remained unclear how the amended federal legislation would tackle concerns around black market vapes.
“If we can’t take people’s details, how can we know how many pharmacies they’ve been to and how many vapes they’ve purchased that day?” she said.
“There’s a total lack of control, not to mention the lack of evidence around vapes helping with smoking cessation. This essentially turns pharmacists into tobacconists.
“We don’t get up and go to work in the morning to intentionally supply potentially harmful and highly addictive products to our patients.”
Mr Lupo said a St Lukes member survey conducted last year had revealed 90 per cent of respondents supported a smoking and vaping ban.
“Our members have reported they want action on vapes. St Lukes has the vision of making Tasmania the healthiest island on the planet, and to achieve that, we need to see real leadership when faced with issues like this,” he said.
“Let’s look back in 40 years’ time and say we did the right thing, not lament that we chose to take the easy road and exposed our children to something that need never have been part of their lives.”
ENDS
For further information: Jacquie Ray, Timmins Ray Public Relations: 0429 683 779.