100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

Jane Stephens: none of us can breathe easy with new watered-down laws

Do you have a news tip? Click here to send to our news team.

Franchise to take over iconic site

A national cafe franchise is making its Sunshine Coast debut after securing a long-held retail precinct location. Degani is preparing to open its first local More

School abuse allegations under legal investigation

A legal investigation is underway into allegations of historical child sexual abuse reportedly involving a Sunshine Coast school during the early 2000s. Rebecca Thomas, Special More

TAB responds as Coast hotels drop services

A long-running TAB service at a Sunshine Coast hotel is set to disappear after Comiskey Group and Tabcorp failed to reach an agreement on More

Cheers as patient celebrates rehabilitation milestone

A woman has walked out of a Sunshine Coast hospital to a round of applause after a remarkable recovery from a spinal infection. Suzanne Parker More

Ashley Robinson: my life can be a pain

Last week began with probably the best massage I have ever had. The deep-tissue treatment was painful at the time but left me feeling More

Police investigate multi-vehicle crash

The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating a serious three-vehicle crash, which led to a woman being airlifted to hospital. Initial investigations indicate that a grey More

Cinnamon and apple, choco-vanilla, icy watermelon with a minty twist.

Name your flavour and it is sure to be available.

Watch the kids breathe it in, then get hooked.

No one saw the enormity of vaping’s addiction wave.

It was seen as inoffensive at first, with even doctors embracing it as a way to ease people off smoking.

But to a generation that had not been subjected to the shock ads and public health campaign about the perils of smoking, breathing in tasty water vapour was quickly embraced as fun, social and intoxicating.

No one predicted that vaping would become so widespread. Picture: Shutterstock

Then the science rolled in about how terrible it was for lungs, the stats stacked up about how much of it was coming from offshore, and the government panicked.

A world-first ban on the vessels of poison was announced – the very possession of them without a prescription to be an illegal act.

Then another switch and an eleventh-hour back-pedal.

Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.

From the start of this month, vapers might still need a prescription and can only get the devices from chemist shops.

But from October, vapes can be bought without a prescription.

Crazy stuff.

The possession of vapes will remain decriminalised, even for the very young, which means the local pharmacy is going to be the place to hang out for young puffers.

Vapes will be like ciggies, except you get them from pharmacies instead of shops: plain packaging, behind the counter, ID required, limited to boring flavours.

Maybe the softening was because the federal government is not making the money it used to on nicotine.

It had projected getting about $15 billion last financial year in excise on tobacco, but only got $10.5 billion.

Fewer people were buying legal smokes (they are about $60 a pack these days, so little wonder), but they sure were getting their nicotine hits from places unregulated and untaxed.

Vapes will still be relatively accessible. Picture: Shutterstock.

So, instead of banning vaping, the government (and the Opposition) will keep it, regulate it to collect their cut and go hard on illegal imports.

Making money out of people’s unhealthy habits has long been the practice of our governments, with booze, the pokies and cigarettes some of the income streams they rely on.

But they had the chance to do better: to show the public good was bigger than their addiction to our sins.

And now they have blown it.

What a crying shame.

Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.

Subscribe to SCN’s free daily news email

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
This field is hidden when viewing the form
[scn_go_back_button] Return Home
Share