Australia’s crackdown on vaping is failing, with new official figures showing only a trickle of legal sales through pharmacies while the black market thrives.
Since October, ‘therapeutic vapes’ – legal, regulated products with limited flavours – have only been available to buy from pharmacies. But the model is barely functioning.
Fewer than 8,000 therapeutic vapes are sold legally each month, compared with an estimated 1.7 million adults using vapes nationwide – a gap that critics say is fuelling illicit trade rather than reducing it.
Freedom of Information documents obtained by Australian national newspaper The Daily Telegraph reveal the scheme, which aimed to move 450,000 vape users into legal channels, has so far delivered only a fraction of that target.
One therapeutic vape sold every three days
In May there were 7,952 pharmacy notifications (non-prescription sales to adults) across 735 outlets, falling to 7,252 in June before rising slightly in July to 7,350. With around 6,000 registered pharmacies nationwide, that equates to roughly one therapeutic vape sold every three days at those that have opted in.
Industry sources said several vape manufacturers that have been operating within the model since its introduction are now considering leaving the market altogether, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Rohan Pike, a former senior Australian Federal Police investigator who established the Australian Border Force’s tobacco strike team, said “the government’s policy is failing”.
The legal product is ‘losing the battle’
“The legal product, with all its regulations, is losing the battle against the illicit product,” Mr Pike said.
He said 95 per cent of vapers wanted to choose their own flavours and concentrations “without the inconvenience of having to find one of the few pharmacies that sells them”.
“Countries with the lowest smoking rates, like New Zealand, actually encourage responsible vaping by having a properly regulated market,” he said.
While the legal market stagnates, illegal tobacconists are booming across Australia, openly selling black market cigarettes and flavoured nicotine vapes.
Border seizures are at record levels, but enforcement on the ground remains thin.
Loss of excise revenue
In its latest budget, the government committed $156.7 million (€95.6 million) over two years from 2025-26 to crack down on illicit tobacco and nicotine. But revenue from tobacco excise continues to slide. The federal government is forecast to collect $7.4 billion (€4.5 billion) this year – less than half the $16.3 billion (€9.9 billion) raised in 2019–20.
Soaring prices are fuelling demand for the black market. In 2020, the average pack of 20 cigarettes cost $28.20 (€17). From Monday, a new round of indexation and tax hikes has pushed the cost to $43.59 (€27). By contrast, an illicit packet has recently fallen to a record low of just $7.50 (€4.60).
“The driver for the illicit cigarette market is the price,” Mr Pike said. “Legal tobacco is now about five times the illicit price and, with another seven per cent increase on September 1, it only adds fuel to the fire.”
