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Young people are helping create a 'booming black market' in Australia, and it is all so they can get their hands on a controversial $20 item.
Australians are calling for regulations around vaping to be stripped back, saying the country should follow the lead of New Zealand and the UK.
A whopping 20 per cent of young people and nine per cent of adults now vape on a regular basis, according to the Australian Department of Health.
In a bid to reduce these figures, the Albanese government announced in May it would outlaw the importation of non-prescription vaping products as part of the biggest smoking reforms in a decade.
Under current laws, vapes with nicotine can only be legally bought with a prescription from a chemist.
State leaders have also joined the fight against vapes, with NSW Premier Chris Minns recently announcing a $6.8 million crackdown, branding the rise of illegal vapes a 'significant public health challenge'.
But this hasn’t deterred Australians, with many – particularly young people – resorting to 'black market' channels to get their hands on the products.
Online, vapes can be purchased from anywhere between $20 and $150, depending on the type of product a buyer wants.                                                                                                                                                                                                            
A poll has revealed the vast amount of Aussies that want the government to change the way they are dealing with the rise in vaping, with the overwhelming majority of those surveyed saying they want it regulated the way as alcohol and tobacco.
The poll from RedBridge, found that almost 90 per cent of the 1500 people surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that regulated nicotine vaping products should be available for sale to adults aged 18 and older through licensed retail outlets.
This would bring Australia into line with the laws introduced in New Zealand in 2020, which banned the sale of vapes to people under 18. The country also banned vaping at schools and early childhood centres and prohibited vape advertising and sponsorship.
New legislation was also introduced in August which banned the sale of cheap, disposable vapes and not allowing new vape shops within 300m of any schools.
In the UK a person must also be over the age of 18 to buy and use a vape. The cartridges in the vapes must also hold no more than two millimetres of liquid and cannot contain more than 20 milligrams of nicotine per millilitre.
The polling into Australia’s vaping restrictions was commissioned by The Australian. Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), with the company’s CEO, Theo Foukkare, saying there was major support for regulation changes from voters on all sides of politics.
'It found 88 per cent of Coalition voters, 90 per cent of Labor supporters and 93 per cent of Greens voters either agree, or strongly agree, that nicotine vapes should be strictly regulated and sold the same way that alcohol and tobacco are,' he said.
'Whether its parents dealing with the harsh reality of the youth vaping crisis, or adults who want access to strictly regulated products with ingredient standards, there is overwhelming support across all demographics to fix Australia’s black market vaping crisis by adopting the commonsense solution of regulating vapes in the same way as tobacco.'
Nearly 70 per cent of the people surveyed rated the government’s current efforts to regulate vaping as either 'poor' or 'very poor'.
'Just 15 per cent rated it as acceptable and only one per cent said the government’s efforts were ‘very good’. The RedBridge poll also found low confidence among voters in the current ‘prescription only’ policy,' Mr Foukkare said.
'Just two per cent of Aussies say they are very confident in the current rules that force anyone who wants to access a vape as a quit smoking aid to go to the GP and get a prescription.'
The poll also found that 61 per cent of voters surveyed would consider voting for a political party that had a policy to regulate vaping products in the same way as alcohol and tobacco.
Mr Foukkare claimed the poll should be a 'big wakeup call' to all politicians, noting that Australians want our leaders to 'fix this mess now'.
'All we have seen is a booming black market – littered with dangerous, poorly manufactured vapes that continue to fall into the hands of unsuspecting Australians,' he said.
'The continued failure to strictly regulate the sale of vapes that are manufactured to a specific code and sold as an 18-and-over product is becoming a major political issue for voters and it is time for all politicians from across the divide to heed that message.'

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