The TGA’s Vaping Ban and Aboriginal Health

In April 2020, Quadrant contributor Dr Anthony Dillon wrote in Our Coming Bleak Winter and Beyond: “Until political leaders find the courage to reclaim responsibility for the state of the nation, the [COVID] virus and far more damaging policies imposed to combat it cannot, and will not, be separated.” He then encouraged these politicians and their sundry and assorted ‘experts’ to do “more thinking and less talking.”

One thing that certainly deserves “more thinking” is the recently introduced ban on nicotine-infused ‘vape juice’ for use in electronic cigarettes. That ban affects all Australians keen to shed their addictions to traditional cigarettes via the vaping substitute, and it hits Aborigine smokers, among the nation’s heaviest cigarette smokers, hardest of all.

The ban on nicotine vaping products (NVPs) began late in 2021,  the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) outlining it as follows (emphasis added):

From 1 October 2021, consumers require a prescription for all…