Will Prescription Only Nicotine Work?

Instead of taxing vaping like a consumer good, turning it into a prescription product will cost the country millions of dollars instead of earning from it. This is on top of the medical expenses that will burden the system when hundreds of thousands of vapers switch back to smoking tobacco.

A Vape prescription is only good for a three-month supply. So that means that to get a whole year’s supply of nicotine e-liquid, a vaper will have to go to his or her GP four times a year. With half a million vapers in Australia by the last count, this will mean that there will be an additional 2 million GP visits just for vapers to get their prescriptions. This presents an undue burden to our already pressured health system.

Aside from the extra GP visits, we have to remember that prescription medication are GST-free. So instead of legalizing vaping, taxing it as a consumer good and pouring in millions of dollars into the Australian treasury, nicotine e-liquids will be tax-free and the only people making money will be the large pharmacies and chemists.  

The TGA or Therapeutic Goods Administration has put up an infographic on how the model would look like. They are oversimplifying the entire process to make it seem like they are being reasonable, but it truly isn’t.

The first step: Consultation with Doctor

Not all doctors in Australia are versed with vaping. You cannot just walk into a doctor’s office and ask about vaping, not because they don’t want to, but they’re simply not informed about it. Informing and training all doctors in Australia about vaping will be a gigantic task that the TGA has not considered. Unlike prescription medication where a writeup and some literature will work, vaping is much more complicated than that.

As of last count, there are less than a dozen doctors all over Australia that are knowledgeable and are willing to make prescriptions for nicotine e-liquid. ATHRA states that there are over half a million vapers all over Australia. From that number alone, if we divide it among the doctors who are willing and able to prescribe nicotine, you would get a ratio of 41,000 vapers per doctor. Each doctor would have to see a 112 vapers per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year just for all of the CURRENT vapers to get a prescription. Assuming a doctor works 8 hours a day, every day, Monday through Sunday, he or she would have to see 15 people per hour, or spend less than 4 minutes per person, without taking breaks.

Now tell me, what sort of medical advice can a doctor give a person in 4 minutes? And we’re not even factoring in non-vapers who want to switch from tobacco to smoking! And not only that, a prescription is good for three months’ worth of nicotine e-liquid, after three months, a person would have to get back in line to get another prescription! If they’re so worried about the health of people, then why not make cigarettes prescription-only as well?

The Next Step: Ordering Online or getting from a local pharmacy

Now, this goes back into our previous argument about limiting vaper choices. Who can say that a local pharmacy will have the unit or flavor that’s preferred by the vaper? What if the nicotine level that the vaper needs isn’t available in the local pharmacy? What then? If people say, well just order online.

That’s true, ordering online works, but who orders three months’ worth of vape juice? That’s a big chunk of change right there, and what if you don’t like the flavors available online? It takes away from our ability to try and explore new flavors because no one in his or her right mind would buy three months’ worth of untested nicotine e-liquid flavors.

And who is to say that all international sources of nicotine e-liquids are reputable? Instead of going to a local business that test and try out all of their products for quality, vapers will be left with a coin toss with the quality of their vaping products.

The final hurdle: Getting the nicotine e-liquid across the Australian Border

Once it becomes a regulated product, it will add an extra burden to our already overworked customs officials, taking time away from things that they should be checking like illegal drugs, weapons, smuggled goods, and other things that are more important than a couple of bottles of nicotine e-liquid.

The TGA has opened public consultations for the proposed regulation with regard to prescription nicotine. Now this public consultation is a welcome step in the right direction. By submitting your comment, it will be considered along with the voices of those on the committee. To submit your comment, head on to the TGA’s consultation portal which you can access by clicking this link.

Don’t know what to write? Just tell them the truth. Get some ideas from the points we have laid out on this blog post. There is no right or wrong answer, the important thing is to let them know that you, as a vaper, will be directly affected by this form of regulation.

Here are the upcoming dates that you should remember as a vaper

• November 6, 2020 – Deadline for submission of comments for the TGA public consultation
• December 2020 – The decision from the TGA consultation will be released
• January 1, 2021 – The new date for the proposed vape importation ban to kick into effect (any nicotine vape product coming into the country will be confiscated after this date)
• Mid 2021 – The decision from the TGA consultation will be fully implemented