Vaping article in The Daily Telegraph
5 December 2023
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Cut durry damage by vaping
by ROSS FITZGERALD
Although Sydney was once the epicentre of Australia’s HIV epidemic, it may soon become the first city in the world to effectively eliminate HIV transmission.
This remarkable achievement will be because of a focus on reducing the adverse consequences of risk rather than trying to reduce or eliminate it.
In other words, harm reduction. The result was the saving of many thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
Sadly, the outstanding success of Australia’s early efforts to control HIV is in stark contrast to Australian policy in response to the scourge of smoking.
As drug specialist Dr Alex Wodak AM explains: “Cigarette smoke contains high concentrations of 7000 chemicals, including 70 cancer-causing agents released from burning tobacco. In contrast, vaping aerosol contains low or trace concentrations of less than 150 chemicals.”
Vapes heat a liquid into an aerosol, without tobacco, combustion or smoke. But despite three recent international studies showing that vaping nicotine is much safer than smoking cigarettes, the Albanese government is making it increasingly difficult for people who want to quit smoking to vape.
Sadly, the demand for nicotine and the purchase of cigarettes isn’t going to disappear. This is why, throughout Australia, there is currently a contested debate about vaping.
Inexplicably, the Albanese government is adopting a quasi-prohibitionist approach. Yet in New Zealand, after legally allowing vaping in 2020, its smoking rate fell by 33 per cent in two years.
And this year, in Britain, the conservative government is giving £47m worth of free vapes to one million smokers — 20 per cent of all UK smokers — to help them stop smoking.
In this current parliamentary session, Health Minister Mark Butler has led debate about his proposed vaping legislation. Under this proposal, disposable vapes won’t be allowed into Australia from New Year’s Day. More restrictions will apply in March, including a ban on importing vapes and vaping products.
Although governments benefit from taxing people who purchase cigarettes, they also pay for the treatment of smoking-related diseases.These billion-dollar bills include the cost of premature deaths, frequent hospitalisations and palliative care.
Australia’s failed vaping policy is unsustainable and unworkable. It’s well and truly time to pragmatically and compassionately focus on reducing the harms caused by smoking. It’s also time to take on the criminals and bikie gangs supplying black market cigarettes and vaping equipment of dubious quality.
All new harm reduction interventions for drugs in Australia initially faced fierce opposition. In time, it was realised that these interventions, including methadone treatment, needle syringe programs and medically supervised injecting centres, were hugely beneficial.
Vaping is a huge opportunity for the protection of public health, not a threat
Ross Fitzgerald AM is an emeritus professor of history and politics
The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 4 December, 2023, p 37.
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