Legalise Vaping calls on federal government to make vapes available for sale to adults to improve health outcomes for Australians
A major Australian study published today provides conclusive evidence that nicotine vaping products – currently illegal to buy over the counter in Australia – are a powerful weapon for reducing rates of smoking in the community.
The study, published in the prestigious journal Addictive Behaviours and led by researchers at the University of Queensland, finds that smokers who use a vape on a daily basis are more than 100% more likely to quit cigarettes for good.
Legalise Vaping Australia campaign director Brian Marlow welcomed publication of the study and said it showed that Australia’s policies that restrict access to vaping products are working against better health outcomes.
“The science has long been clear but here we have direct evidence that vaping is an enormously powerful tool when it comes to getting people to quit cigarettes,” Mr Marlow said.
“After decades of public policy efforts trying to get people to quit cigarettes the Commonwealth Government is now denying people access to an effective and convenient route to quitting smoking.
“Current policy has driven vaping products underground, creating a thriving black market with no quality controls and adding needless pressure on the GP network in the middle of a pandemic.
“Public Health England says vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking. It makes absolutely no sense to require Australians to get a prescription from their GP to access vapes, when around the world millions of people are using vapes to get off cigarettes.
“Critically, this study finds that it is daily use of a vape that helps people quit – not occasional use. This underlines how important it is to give vapers access to products.
“Australia should immediately move to a progressive and workable model for vaping products, where well-regulated consumer products can be sold over the counter to adults on production of age verification.
A summary of the study and a link to the full paper can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306460321004020?via%3Dihub
Legalisvaping.com – 2022-01-20.