AkGlobe News - CAPHRA: Australia and Thailand show nicotine prohibition fuels illicit markets

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Nicotine prohibition does not eliminate demand, the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) says. It shifts supply from regulated channels to illicit markets.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - AkGlobe -- Australia and Thailand are showing that nicotine prohibition does not eliminate demand, the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) says. It shifts supply from regulated channels to illicit markets.

In Australia, authorities have seized more than 20 million illegal vapes since January 2024.
Recent reporting also suggests the country's illicit nicotine market has grown dramatically, with black-market supply linked to organised crime and enforcement crackdowns struggling to contain it.

"Australia's vaping prohibition has become a textbook example of what happens when ideology overrides evidence," said Alan Gorley, from ALIVE Advocacy Australia. "It has not eliminated demand. It has expanded the illicit market, enriched criminal networks, and left consumers with fewer protections than before."

Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA, said the policy failure should be a warning to the wider Asia Pacific region.

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"Prohibition does not end nicotine use," Loucas said. "It hands the market to criminal operators, weakens consumer protections, and leaves adults with fewer legal options to move away from smoking."

CAPHRA said Thailand's 11-year vape ban shows the same pattern. CAPHRA said Thailand's long-running vape ban has pushed consumers into black-market channels.

Thai advocate Asa Saligupta says prohibition expanded underground sales and left smokers with fewer lower-risk alternatives.

"Thailand's ban did not make vaping disappear," said Asa Saligupta of ENDs Cigarette Smoke Thailand. "It made products unregulated, impossible to control the substance contained, easier for illegal sellers to exploit, and harder for people who smoke to switch."

Gorley said the damage extends beyond illicit trade itself.

"The greatest harm may be the loss of trust when authorities refuse to acknowledge the consequences of their own policies," he said. "Australians can see the gap between what they are told is happening and what is plainly happening around them."

CAPHRA supports strict age limits, product standards, and enforcement against illegal sellers, but says those goals require regulated legal access, accurate risk communication, and proportionate policy — not prohibition.

https://www.caphraorg.net