Major pharmacy chains reject vape laws, signalling franchisees shouldn't sell vaping products

Major pharmacy brands have rejected the government's vaping sales ban. (Supplied: Unsplash / Serkan Yildiz / licence)

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 also told Australian Community Media its chain of 550 pharmacies is unlikely to sell vapes without prescriptions.

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.

The Vaping Reforms bill passed by parliament does not include any indemnity measures for pharmacists providing vaping advice.

However the government believes existing liability insurance provides broad enough coverage already, and the vape policy should not impact their ability to be covered.

The Pharmacy Guild has also expressed concerns that there is no mechanism to monitor the issuing of vapes by pharmacies, meaning people could easily acquire multiple vapes for themselves or others by visiting separate pharmacies.

While prescriptions would allow that to be tracked, there are also systems for monitoring medications that can be obtained without prescription, such as Project STOP for pseudoephedrine.

"Pharmacists are healthcare professionals and community pharmacies do not want to supply this potentially harmful, highly addictive product without a prescription," The Guild's national vice-president Anthony Tassone said.

Greens claim pharmacy lobby's priority is not health

However Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, whose support was instrumental in passing the laws, poured scorn on the Pharmacy Guild's public commentary, telling the Senate he "cannot cop" suggestions they were concerned about safety.

Senator Steele-John claimed in meetings with the Guild they had lobbied him for even looser laws, requesting either that vapes be dispensed through prescriptions as "Schedule 4" items, or be available freely over the counter as "Schedule 2" items.

His implication was that the Guild's concerns rested not with the issue of vapes being dispensed without prescription, but rather the "Schedule 3" requirement for pharmacists to have a conversation with their customers.

"To come into this debate and propose that they oppose this scheduling because they are concerned about the safety of the substance is very disingenuous," Senator Steele-John said on Wednesday.

The Guild has categorically denied it lobbied for a weaker schedule for vapes.

In Question Time on Thursday, Mr Butler waved a vape around on the floor of the lower house, as he took a victory lap on passing laws that he said would stamp out a "public health menace".

"Every now and then, this place has a real opportunity to do something meaningful and lasting for the health of young Australians," Mr Butler said.

"And today was one of those days and we did it."

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), which represents professionals in the sector, said in a statement the vaping sales ban was not its preferred approach, but they recognised a need for action.

"PSA will work with government to support the pharmacists who choose to be involved in the prescribing and dispensing of nicotine-containing therapeutic vapes. PSA will develop best-practice guidelines to describe how pharmacists prescribe products for smoking cessation products, including nicotine-containing therapeutic vapes," its national president Fei Sim said.

The federal government has claimed Australia once again is leading the world in smoking reforms, having done so on plain-packaging laws a decade ago.

Its vaping bill passed parliament on Thursday, and the sales ban will be in force from Monday.

A person who commits an offence of supplying vaping goods faces a penalty of seven years imprisonment or a fine of up to $1.57 million.