Legalise Vaping Australia say a major study published in the prestigious Addictive Behaviours journal finds daily vapers are 100% more likely to quit smoking successfully. This is a problem for Australian smokers and current vapers because the federal government has banned over-the-counter sales and made accessing nicotine containing eliquid very difficult to do.
The research was led by Tianze Sun, National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland, in conjunction with other academics and the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame.
The authors say: “E-cigarettes may benefit public health if they are effective for smoking cessation. Evidence suggests that the frequency of e-cigarette use is likely an important predicator of smoking cessation success, so we examined the associations between frequency of e-cigarette use and smoking reduction and cessation in an Australian population sample of past year adult smokers.”
They concluded: “Daily, but not occasional, e-cigarette users were more likely to quit or reduce smoking cigarettes than Australian smokers who did not use e-cigarette
Legalise Vaping Australia campaign director Brian Marlow welcomed publication of the study and said it showed that Australia’s policies that restrict access to vaping products are working against better health outcomes.
“The science has long been clear but here we have direct evidence that vaping is an enormously powerful tool when it comes to getting people to quit cigarettes,” he said.
“After decades of public policy efforts trying to get people to quit cigarettes the Commonwealth Government is now denying people access to an effective and convenient route to quitting smoking.
“Current policy has driven vaping products underground, creating a thriving black market with no quality controls and adding needless pressure on the GP network in the middle of a pandemic.
“Public Health England says vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking. It makes absolutely no sense to require Australians to get a prescription from their GP to access vapes, when around the world millions of people are using vapes to get off cigarettes.
“Critically, this study finds that it is daily use of a vape that helps people quit – not occasional use. This underlines how important it is to give vapers access to products.
“Australia should immediately move to a progressive and workable model for vaping products, where well-regulated consumer products can be sold over the counter to adults on production of age verification.”
