Rebecca Lang, the chief executive of the Queensland Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies, first floated the idea of “[writing] to the minister to flag our interest in helping on this one” on December 2.“I think we need to provide advice to the effect that further restrictions will likely only make the problem worse and we’ll end up criminalising more people,” she wrote to other members of the advisory council.
“There is a lot of misinformation and the federal and state ministers and decision makers are taking much of it on without good advice or consideration of the evidence,” she wrote back. “The government’s regulatory reforms to vaping also align with statements issued by the vast majority of leading public health organisations in Australia, including the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Cancer Council network, National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and all state and territory health departments.