Obelia seized more than 35 tonnes of vaping products in October, comprising 376,000 illegal vapes with a street value of more than $11 million.

Obelia’s efforts took place notwithstanding the Government has not yet implemented legislation to include all non-therapeutic vaping products on the Prohibited Import List (PIL). When the PIL is updated to prohibit vaping products, only nicotine vaping products (NVPs) intended for therapeutic use under prescription from pharmacies will be permitted for importation.

Mr Butler confirmed that:

“we will put in that import control regulation in place by the end of the year”.

In terms of the broader strategy, Mr Butler went on to say that:

“what we want to do is make sure that there is a regulation in place to stop the supply of these things coming in in the first place from overseas, then we need to work with states to have a comprehensive regulatory framework that they will also be able to enforce as state authorities and we can do that through a single piece of legislation at a Commonwealth level. And we intend to do that over the course of next year.”

Current penalties for the illegal importation or supply of unapproved therapeutic goods are up to five years imprisonment and/or a financial penalty of up to $1.25 million.

Liber believes that this represents an essential first step in a broader suite of measures aimed at closing the illicit vaping market while ensuring that there is a meaningful pathway for nicotine-dependent vapers and long-term smokers to have continued access under medical supervision to NVPs where they may aid appropriate patients to achieve long term smoking cessation.

With 2.8 million smokers and more than an estimated 1.5 million illicit vapers, these measures are likely to fundamentally increase the number of patients seeking guidance and assessment for whether NVPs may be an appropriate smoking cessation intervention for them.