Western Australia’s state government is moving to introduce laws that could dump vaping into the same regulatory framework as the one that restricts smoking, according to a story by Cathy O’Leary for The West Australian.
Laws governing e-cigarettes in Australia are inconsistent. Western Australia (WA) effectively bans the sale of non-nicotine products by making it illegal to supply anything that resembles a tobacco product.
But WA is one of the few states not to ban people using them in non-smoking areas.
A parliamentary committee report chaired by Labor MLA Janine Freeman last year conceded the state’s laws were incomplete and loosely enforced.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that many West Australians are unaware that nicotine e-cigarettes are illegal in Australia, and that selling a device that resembles a tobacco product is illegal in WA,” she wrote.
“For the time being at least, we have to work around a nonsensical regulation that allows the sale of nicotine for indisputably harmful tobacco products but not for a product which is widely regarded as less harmful.”
WA Health Minister Roger Cook, who supports a ban on e-cigarettes until their safety and effectiveness have been proved, said a review of WA’s tobacco laws would look at e-cigarettes.
“Towards the end of 2018, the Department of Health will conduct a further review of tobacco laws and I expect issues around all e-cigarettes to be front and centre,” he said.
Favoring combustibles
