Retailers will be required to show any vaping products they sell are nicotine-free or face a $10,000 fine as part of a crackdown on e-cigarettes by the South Australian government.
New licence conditions will also require sellers to provide information about their e-cigarette suppliers, importers or manufacturers to allow the products to be traced.
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The new conditions are an interim measure, while the federal government works through plans to stop the importation of non-prescription e-cigarettes, banning of vapes in retail settings and single-use disposable vapes.
Sara Driver, a health professional of 30 years and mother of three, supports the SA government’s crackdown after being “horrified” by the impact of vape addiction on her teenage daughters.
The products the teenagers purchased falsely claimed to have no nicotine content, Driver said.
“My youngest was 13 when she started. (She) was able to purchase them online through social media,” she said.
“Kids have got vapes under their pillows, and they are vaping continually. They can wake up in the middle of the night inhaling vapes.”
Driver described her daughter, who is now 15, as being in a constant “heightened state” while she was experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
But because she was so young, the 13-year-old didn’t realise she had an addiction and needed support, Driver said.
“She was having a lot of behaviour issues at school. I was getting a lot of telephone calls, there were several suspensions, and it took a long time to uncover (her addiction),” the mother said.
“(There was) irritability, not wanting to sleep, not wanting to eat. In hindsight, just being a constant state of nicotine withdrawal”
The family’s eldest child, who was 18 at the time, was also addicted, and Driver said, “she was very underweight, not wanting to eat and not contributing to family life”.
Both children had to undergo nicotine replacement therapy for up to four months.
“I’m living with two completely different girls in my house,” Driver said.
Honing in on vape sale
The state government’s new measures come into force on July 10, with SA Health officers to conduct random visits to shops over the next two months.
Under the new rules, retailers must obtain written proof from suppliers that their vaping products are nicotine-free or arrange laboratory testing if their supplier cannot provide proper documentation.
Previous enforcement blitzes over the past year resulted in the seizure of about 15,000 illegal nicotine vapes with 17 fines issued and three licences cancelled.
The state government said there were at least 200 businesses across the state, that it would focus on for the checks.
“These strict new conditions are designed to keep illegal nicotine vapes out of retail outlets and out of the hands of South Australians, especially children,” Health Minister Chris Picton said.
“Many e-cigarettes, particularly the disposable variety, are not labelled as containing nicotine when in fact they do contain nicotine, often in very high concentrations.”
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