The Federal Labor Government has passed a series of heavy restrictions on the sale of vapes containing nicotine after coming to a last-minute agreement with the Greens.

From today, anyone wishing to buy a vape containing nicotine requires a prescription from a doctor and can only purchase them from pharmacies.

The legislation also requires vape manufacturers to comply with plain packaging laws, similar to cigarettes, and limits the flavours they are allowed to offer to only tobacco, menthol, or mint.

For lovers of vapes it’s not all bad news. The deal with the Greens stipulates that the ban will be temporary, with over 18s being once again allowed to purchase vapes without a prescription starting October 1st. Under 18s will still require a prescription.

The legislation makes Australia the first country in the world to ban the sale of nicotine vapes outside of pharmacies.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has strongly criticised the laws, arguing that it will turn pharmacies into vape retailers, and urged the senate to change course.

“No vaping product has ever approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration based on its safety, efficacy or performance” a spokesperson said “Pharmacies like Chemist Warehouse will now become Vape Central”

Health Minister Mark Butler stated in an interview that “Of course pharmacies aren’t owned by the government so they can’t be directed by the government what they sell” .

“This is, I think, a sensible balance between access and serious reform to return this product to its original intention, which was therapeutic” he said.

Others have criticised the government for working with the anti-prohibitionist Greens, describing the amended bill as “watered down”.

Becky Freeman, an associate professor at the University of Sydney and an expert in tobacco control policy said “I’m disappointed that we haven’t got the law going ahead that the public health sector was largely supportive of, where we would see that vapes would only be available by prescription in a pharmacy.”

National Party Senator Bridget MacKenzie told Channel Nine “This is a classic case of the Labor Party trying to hide behind the white coat of the local pharmacists in this vain attempt to try and get vapes out of the hands of our children and out of our schools.”

Greens Leader Adam Bandt defended the amendments, saying “History is replete with examples of politicians telling adults not to use certain drugs, only to find that that doesn’t actually fix the problem”

“There is a real public health problem, and especially amongst children … for us was something that we really wanted to tackle,” Bandt told ABC News Breakfast, “but we wanted to make sure that it was treated as a health issue and kept out of the criminal justice system.” 

Even though the bill was less than what Labor had hoped for, the government is still calling it a win. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek stated “Do we prefer our original package? Of course we do”.

“But this whole package is absolutely world leading, and I think just as Australia led the world on plain packaging for tobacco, we’ll be leading the world on turning around this trend of more and more young people getting hooked on nicotine”.