08/08/2025

Reports this week of police seizures of illegal vapes laced with nitazenes, a powerful synthetic opioid said to be stronger than fentanyl, have sparked fresh concerns around the failure of Labor’s State and Federal vaping policies to protect Australian children.

Despite continued headlines touting the success of strong-armed banning policies, the sale of illegal vapes in Australia has not been curbed.

Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan has renewed calls for vaping regulation to stem the flow of harmful products and reduce the black-market trade that has continued to surge despite the recent policy changes.

“It’s no secret that the sale of illegal vapes has exploded in this country. Where we were once seeing a reduction in the Tobacco Shop footprint, we are now seeing new stores opening every month. How can that be possible if we are reducing the rates of smoking in this country? The answer is simple; the sale of ‘under the counter’ illegal vapes and illicit tobacco is fuelling the boom,” Mr Conaghan stated.

“Governments at all levels should not be patting themselves on the back for policies designed to make headlines while ignoring the reality of organised crime syndicates that have been allowed to flourish in plain sight.”

As a former Drug Squad Detective, Conaghan has long been vocal on the realities of the illegal vape trade, introducing an Amendment to motion for second reading of the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024.

“The current ban and enforcement model is blind to the true scale of the problem and scale of the manpower required to follow it through. Currently, the responsibility for enforcing financial penalties lies with NSW Health Inspectors who are expected to visit retailers and check compliance with tobacco retailing laws. This includes checking if illicit tobacco, illegal vaping goods or other illegal products containing nicotine are being sold. Police are only able to confiscate goods and shut stores for a finite period of time. And anyone living in regional communities, in particular, is well aware of the pressures on our local police stations and the fact that our existing resources are already stretched too thin. With the escalation in youth crime, domestic violence call outs and meth-amphetamine use, patrolling the trade of illegal nicotine products is a comparatively low priority,” Mr Conaghan said.

“With that in mind, we need to be looking at better regulations of these products to reduce their attractiveness for organised crime gangs. If regulated products that meet a set of safety criteria and are packaged with warnings and information are available for those aged 18 and over, the illicit trade stronghold would be significantly diminished. It’s time to admit that our current strategies and modelling are not working, and it’s our young people who are being endangered as governments collectively stick their heads in the sand.

“I am by no means promoting the use of vapes or cigarettes. I’d be the first to say ‘we’d all be better off without them’, but we need to face up to reality and reduce the risks to our communities, both from a health perspective as well as a crime perspective. Regulation similar to cigarettes is a viable answer to both issues and one that we need to seriously consider.”

ENDS