The NSW government has proposed harsher penalties for suppliers of vapes.
Maximum penalties for illegal vape supply are set to soar from $1650 to approximately $1.54 million, with prison sentences increasing from six months to seven years.
The NSW government has introduced the legislation in the NSW parliament as it moves to align vaping offences with the Commonwealth’s.
Offences will also be added for possession of commercial quantity of vaping products and for retailer possession of vaping products.
As with the Commonwealth vaping reforms, the intent of these offences is to target suppliers over individual users of vaping products.
The introduction of new illegal vape penalties comes as the NSW government has seized over 300,000 vaping products over the past year.
Between 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2024, 42,000 products were seized from 362 inspections. This is compared to the same period the previous year when 153,000 products were seized from 290 inspections. The NSW government believes the lower number of products seized in the most recent quarter may be the result of the disruption in product availability in the market following the introduction of new Commonwealth vaping laws.
“The prevalence of illegal vaping devices in our community, and in particular among our young people, is deeply concerning,” says NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to the stem the tide of this public health challenge.
“I am very encouraged by the progress we are making in terms of removing these harmful devices from our streets.
“And I am pleased to announce that we are augmenting our efforts by introducing harsher penalties to target suppliers.”
Last month, the NSW government announced it would recruit an additional 14 enforcement officers to strengthen compliance efforts for vaping and tobacco products across the state.