Saturday, November 2, 2024

Priceline, TerryWhite Chemmart and other major brands reject vape laws, despite becoming exclusive retailers

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Several of Australia’s largest pharmacy brands have indicated they will not move to stock vapes once their sale is outlawed outside of chemists, and a prescription requirement for adults is dropped.

In communications with their stakeholders, TerryWhite Chemmart, Priceline Pharmacy, National Pharmacies in South Australia and 777 Group in West Australia all voiced strong disagreement with new laws allowing the sale of vapes without prescriptions.

In a statement, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia said Blooms and thousands of independent pharmacies had also opposed the government’s deal with the Greens to open access for adults from October.

Chemist Warehouse has told the ABC it is still looking at the implications of the decision and seeking more information on how it will work. 

While those pharmacies have indicated they will not be moving to stock vapes, franchisors under the brands are technically able to make an independent decision to do so.

Many pharmacies under those brands already supply vapes nationwide, or are licensed to do so — the key dispute raised by them is the “downscheduling” of vapes from October from requiring scripts to being available behind the counter for adults once they have had a conversation with their pharmacist.

Health Minister Mark Butler earlier this week said pharmacies would not be forced to stock vapes, and the government did not expect that all pharmacies would.

“Of course, pharmacies aren’t owned by the government, so they can’t be directed by the government what they sell. You know, some pharmacies choose to offer methadone treatment, some don’t,” he said,

“This will obviously be a decision by individual pharmacies.

“But I know pharmacists right around the country for a considerable period of time have been having careful, professional discussions with their customers about smoking cessation support — they do that now, they’ve done it for a very long time. This is an additional tool in the toolkit for smoking cessation.”

Chemists raise liability, monitoring concerns

Among chemists’ concerns are questions of liability if a customer later develops health issues from vaping, and received their vape under advice from a pharmacist.

Posted , updated 

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