Smoking, vaping, HTP, NRT and snus in Australia

In Australia, e-cigarettes are banned for general retail sale but regulated as medicinal products. Therefore, vapes with nicotine concentrations of 20 mg or less can be accessed only with a prescription and purchased from pharmacies. It is not legal to buy or sell e-cigarettes online, and there is a comprehensive ban on their advertising. In 2023, there were an estimated 1.5 million current vapers in Australia. The adult current e-cigarette vaping prevalence was 7% (6.2% among females, 7.8% among males), while the adult daily vaping prevalence was estimated to be 3.5% in 2023. Additionally, 8.8% of adults stated they had ever tried e-cigarette vaping as of 2016. A 2017 survey by Hua-Hie Yong et al, found that 54.1% of respondents perceived e-cigarettes as not harmful or less harmful than cigarettes, 9.1% believed they were equally as harmful, 0.4% thought they were more harmful, and 36.5% reported that they did not know. Overall, Australia maintains a highly restrictive regulatory environment for e-cigarettes, focusing on medical supervision, while limiting public access and commercial promotion.