Australia has long adopted a strict policy to stop smoking, and in 2012 it became the first country in the world to adopt plain packaging for tobacco products (that is, the packages are free of any brand), before other countries followed suit.
Australian Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday announced tough measures to curb vaping, accusing tobacco companies of working to make teenagers “addicted to nicotine”.
Describing the plan as the country’s biggest tobacco control reform in a decade, Canberra includes banning single-use e-cigarettes, stopping imports of over-the-counter products and limiting the amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes.
Australia has long adopted a strict policy to stop smoking, and in 2012 it became the first country in the world to adopt plain packaging for tobacco products (that is, the packages are free of any brand), before other countries followed suit.
Because of the imposition of high taxes on tobacco sales, Australian cigarette packages are among the most expensive in the world, as one package of 25 cigarettes is sold at a price of approximately fifty Australian dollars ($34). Butler also announced an increase in taxes on tobacco sales, by 5% annually over the years. The next three.
In recent years, Canberra has had difficulty containing the high spread of e-cigarettes, especially among teenagers. In his speech, the Australian Minister of Health stated that electronic cigarette smoking “has become the number one behavioral problem in secondary schools, and it extends to primary schools.” Butler said: “As with tobacco, the world’s major companies have taken another addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and added It contains flavors to create a new generation of nicotine addicts.”
E-cigarettes will remain legal, but access to them will be conditional on a prescription, as a way to help quit smoking. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the country has one of the lowest rates of daily smoking in the world, but has seen an increase in the number of people starting to smoke before the age of 25.
