The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has rejected a plan for nicotine vapes to be sold over-the-counter. or signup to continue reading A deal between Health Minister Mark Butler and the Greens in the Senate on Monday heralded reforms under which would be sold legally in pharmacists to adults without a prescription. The agreed changes to the government's vaping bill were a significant concession by Mr Butler, who sought to ban all vapes not prescribed by a doctor.
Mr Butler said the deal meant that "our world-leading laws" would ensure that vapes would only be sold as "therapeutic products to help hardened smokers kick the habit". But the peak body for the nation's more than 5800 community pharmacists issued a statement saying: "The Guild strongly opposes this proposal". Putting in threat what had seemed a done deal, a spokesperson for the guild said pharmacists were "not tobacconists or garbologists" and that vaping "has long-term patient harms, including cancer, lung-scarring and nicotine addiction".
The government needs the support of two crossbenchers along with the Greens to pass its bill in the Senate if opposed by the Coalition, which is yet to reveal its position. If passed, it remains unclear how many, if any, pharmacists would sell vapes over-the-counter. The guild spokesperson said the amendments agreed to by the government and the Greens were "insulting" and told the Senate to go back to the drawing board.
Greens health spokesperson Jordon Steele-John said the amended b.
