Vapes were sold by pharmacies just 3,500 times during the first month of the government’s new vape ban - despite Australia having around one million vapers.
With more than 5,800 pharmacies across the country, the data - shown to the Senate last week - suggests thousands of them would not have dispensed a single vape.
Australia became the first country to ban the sale of non-therapeutic vapes in July, with adults only able to purchase them from pharmacies without a prescription from October.
Up to 97 per cent of vapers buy from the black market
The government had initially estimated that about 450,000 Australians a year would see a medical professional to obtain their vapes once illicit products became harder to get.
However, following a government u-turn allowing pharmacies to sell vapes without prescription, many have decided not to sell vapes at all as they either don't agree with the policy, or believe the process is too difficult.
Meanwhile, a Therapeutic Goods Administration report examined by a Senate inquiry earlier this year found that as many as 97 per cent of vapers were estimated to be buying their products from the black market.
Illegal vapes are widely available in Australia, sold under the counter by some tobacconists and convenience stores. Prices are reported to have surged to between $40 and $60 (€38 to €56) per device as sellers try to compensate for higher government penalties.
The vapes ban has led to dangerous criminal gangs fighting for control over black market trade. Since the beginning of last year, there have been more than 120 firebombings of tobacco shops.
Illegal vape trade worth nearly €2 billion
It is estimated that the illegal vape trade in Australia is now worth an astonishing $2 billion (€1.9 billion) per year.
Detective inspector Graham Banks, who leads Taskforce Lunar in investigating crime syndicates linked to the black market, said each store is capable of making about $20,000 a week (€12,300) from illegal tobacco and vape sales - or more than $1 million (€616,000) a year.
He told Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald newspaper: “We’ll make arrests … but there’s so many significant players involved that it will just be seen as an opportunity by others when those people are taken out.”
John Coyne, the head of strategic policing and law enforcement at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the government needs to accept that the current policy is not working and make a change.
He said: “There have been unintended consequences of this policy. It is no longer working so we need to adjust that.”
Government not tracking pharmacy numbers
Health Department officials told the Senate last week that they were not counting how many pharmacies sell vapes at present. Chief Medical Officer Tony Lawler said: “It is actually quite difficult to get clear answers on that.”
But Health Department official Chris Bedford said they did know the number of times vaping products had been dispensed by pharmacies following a patient consultation.
“There’s been 3500 of those across Australia .. The pharmacist could dispense more than one vaping good per notification,” Bedford said.
It is not known, however, how many vapes have been dispensed with a prescription, which is the only other avenue people can use to buy vapes legally.
Coalition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said it was astounding that the department did not know how many pharmacies were selling vapes “when this is a key component of the government’s policy”
“The number of vapes dispensed by a pharmacist last month represents a negligible percentage of the estimated vapers in Australia,” she said. “We know the majority of pharmacists do not want to become tobacconists, and this is clearly represented in the department’s figures.”
