Pharmacies have been slow to take up the sale of vapes, despite new laws restricting other sellers, with only 3,500 vapes sold without a prescription in a month.
It's no small market at stake — a report last year estimated 3.5 million Australians aged 14 or over either smoke or vape.But vaping rates have been on the rise among young people, who have fed their addiction with a black market that continues to thrive without proper enforcement.Despite their regulatory upper hand, pharmacists have been reluctant to sell the products without a prescription, or at all.
"I don't think they're going to achieve anything other than making criminals and the pharmaceutical companies a lot of money," he said. Anthony Tassone from the Pharmacy Guild says pharmacists are still unhappy about the federal government's vape laws.The TGA lists about 1,000 vaping products on its website that can legally sold at pharmacies.
Promising to never sell into the recreational market, Liber was founded by former investment banker and lawyer Richard Lee, and has powerful backers. Franchise store owners, however, can choose to stock other branded products. A TerryWhite pharmacy visited by the ABC last month was selling Philip Morris International's VEEV 20mg/ml vapes, which is the legal nicotine limit for over-the-counter sales.In a sit-down interview with The Business, founder Richard Lee, who described Liber as an "inhalation company", insisted the profitability of his company does not depend on people continuing to use it.
"For every smoker that uses my product as a means to stop smoking, they all know five others who would benefit from doing that. The federal government's deal with the Greens to weaken a vaping ban due to start from next week is "disappointing", leading health officials say, but it will still have a massive impact on the availability of vapes for young people.Liber owns online platform Smoke Free Clinic.
"We created Smoke Free Clinic back in 2021 when the framework started, and that was because there wasn't an independent platform that provided information about how vaping products would fit into the cessation toolkit," Mr Lee said. MyDuke, which sells international brands, such as Philip Morris International's VEEV vapes, directed us to its website to complete our purchase.Should Australia have a 'vape tax'?
"In fact, the indicators are that they're finding it harder to stop vaping than that then people that want to stop smoking. Other countries have taken a different approach to regulating vapes to Australia, opting to allow retail sales and introducing vape taxes."I think it's a con. Taxpayers should be getting money from the industry, not taxpayers paying for the industry to be run," he argued.The tax is designed to make vapes less affordable and accessible particularly to young people, while propping up the health system which will carry increased costs due to their use.
He said if people were to obtain vape prescriptions for recreational use, that would be be a taxpayer-funded problem.