Vape Club Warns About World Cup Vaping
Vapers at the Women’s World Cup face hefty fines or even prison, says leading ecig company Vape Club
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by Dave Cross
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Following England’s win on Saturday, football fans heading to the Women’s World Cup matches this week are being warned not to vape while in Australia or New Zealand, where vaping is illegal and violators could face imprisonment or heavy fines.
Since October 2021, it’s been illegal to possess, supply, or sell nicotine-containing e-cigarettes in Australia unless they are being supplied or accessed through a prescription. New Zealand followed suit this year, and in June they announced a ban on most disposable vapes - or those with without removable or replaceable batteries.
Penalties for e-cigarette-related crimes in Australia include a maximum of six months in prison or fines of up to $2,200 (around £1,125). Additionally, a penalty of $222,000 (around £113,600) is applicable for those importing or attempting to import nicotine vaping products into the country.
Experts are expressing concern that this will drive many travelling football fans back onto cigarettes after successfully quitting smoking, potentially setting them back years in their quitting journey.
Government data has revealed that 11.2% of the adult population in Australia and 8% of the adult population in New Zealand continues to smoke tobacco, which is likely to increase with the vaping laws.
Dan Marchant, director of Vape Club, says: "We hear of different attitudes towards vaping in places where it’s been banned, but if vaping is banned in the country you’re travelling to, it’s best to not risk a fine, or worse. Football fans heading to Australia or New Zealand for the World Cup need to be careful.
“Because the UK has such a progressive attitude towards harm reduction and recognises the huge role vaping has to play in achieving a smokefree future, we tend to forget that there are many other countries around the world who are far behind us.
“I just hope that quitters don’t find themselves turning back to cigarettes if they are visiting Australia or New Zealand. There’s a real danger of this. Being deprived of their vapes as a source of nicotine to replace a harmful tobacco product could easily push people back to cigarettes while away. Once this happens, it could consign the smoker back to months or years of cigarette use before being able to quit again.”
References:
- https://www.health.gov.au/topics/smoking-and-tobacco/about-smoking-and-tobacco/smoking-and-tobacco-laws-in-australia#ecigarette-laws
- https://www.criminaldefencelawyers.com.au/blog/is-vaping-illegal-in-australia/
- https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1966-031#sec.16
Photo Credit:
KTFC corner flag image by author
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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