Violent fire wars have erupted in Australia over the black market trade of vapes - with dozens of tobacco shops going up in flames.
The country has seen more than 70 firebombings in recent months that are understood to be related to the illegal sale of black market tobacco and vapes.
Victoria, where there is no tobacco retail licensing scheme, is the worst hit while Melbourne has also been rocked by a spate of shop fire-bombings.
Police believe the arson attacks are a combination of rival groups attacking each other and syndicates sending a threatening message to tobacco stores that have refused to stock their black market products.
Children as young as 14 have allegedly been recruited into the unrelenting tobacco war.
Vape ban an “abysmal failure”
Brian Marlow, Director of Legalise Vaping Australia and President of the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance, said the violence over black market vapes was a direct consequence of the Federal Government's recent ban on nicotine alternatives.
The government introduced a nationwide ban on the importation of disposable vapes on January 1, and access to vapes for therapeutic purposes now requires a prescription from a medical or nurse practitioner.
Mr Marlow told Clearing the Air: “It has never been legal to buy a nicotine vape from a shop in Australia, yet there are currently around 1.7 million adult vapers across the country. Most vapers obtain their vapes from the black market, with fewer than 10 per cent utilising the government’s failed prescription scheme.
“By any metric, our government's prescription vaping model has been an abysmal failure that's just handed over a multi-billion dollar industry to organised crime.”
He said the industry in Australia is run by violent criminal gangs, who don’t care if they sell to children, and use their vast profits to fund other illegal activities.
“In the last six months, there have been over 70 fire bombings of shops, multiple execution style shootings and countless law abiding shop owners threatened with violence or murder if they don't sell illegal vapes for the crime cartels,” he said.
“Of course, our government says that despite Australia being the only country with a violent vaping turf war, their big concern for most people is preventing young people from having access to vapes.
“They've failed on that metric as well. In America (who learned their lesson from previous prohibition experiments), youth vaping has been in continuous decline, dropping by 64 per cent since 2019 according to the U.S Centre for Disease Control.
“Over the same period in Australia, youth vaping has increased by 439 per cent
“Our country's vaping policy is beyond parody and has led to horrific outcomes. When I tell people from other countries that we have gang turf wars over who can sell mango flavoured mist, they think I'm crazy. But that's the reality here.”
The fire bombings are often carried out by youths or low-level criminals, who are reportedly paid just $500 to set fire to a shop front.
Victoria Police Detective Superintendent Jason Kelly said: “This conflict includes both the physical placement of illicit tobacco into stores.. as well as demands for stores to sell the syndicates' illicit tobacco products and pay a tax, or in other words an extortion, on a weekly basis.”
Vapes are banned in 34 countries, the WHO said in a report last year, including Mexico, Brazil, India, Iran and Thailand. However, vape advocates say the rules have simply fuelled a supply of unregulated vapes on the black market.
In the UK this week, where tough new laws on vapes are set to be introduced, families have been urged to stay vigilant as children are being exposed to dangerous black market vapes containing lethal drugs like Spice.
