this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2024
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Online vape seller has ‘no intention of stopping’ shipments to Australia, despite nationwide ban — ‘We have no intention of stopping just because of one twat in Canberra.’::The New Zealand-based seller issued a notice to its Australian customers that shipments will continue regardless of the government's vape reform.

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[–] [email protected] 206 points 8 months ago (25 children)

Leave vaping alone, but ban those single use vapes with rechargable lithium ion batteries in them. It’s absolutely insane to me the amount of waste from throwing out perfectly good rechargeable batteries after one cycle.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 8 months ago (3 children)

They banned it in its entirety in Australia for health reasons and the children.

Smokes are A ok though

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65446352

[–] [email protected] 66 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Sort of, but honestly the vapes have created a new generation of smokers and they should have banned them much sooner (unless you have a prescription and actual plan to use them to quit smoking). They were much easier for new people to get into and we went from smoking dying out to a sizeable number of young smokers.

The tobacco companies have done very well out of vaping

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If the government, 5-10 years ago when it would have been apropos to do so, looked into vaping and drew up specific regulations to have legal vaping, we wouldn’t have the issue we have today. Instead, because of almost a decade of inaction, we now have a new generation of nicotine addicts that they’re hurriedly trying to stop.

We needed regulated, plain-packaged and limited-flavour vapes available to legally buy at a reasonable price to quash out both smoking and prevent kids from getting addicted, but that horse has already bolted.

The cynic in me says they intentionally didn’t regulate vapes because the science wasn’t ready yet, and they didn’t want to accept any blame for legalising something that could end up to be pretty harmful in the long term. So, because they didn’t want to accept that risk then we now have a whole generation of vapers whose health issues we’ll be dealing with for 80+ years to come.

Spoken as an ex-smoker, current vaper as a smoking cessation method.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (3 children)

You had me until "limited flavor", why? How is the alcohol industry allowed to create insane flavors (blue raspberry, literally any fruit, rocket popsicle, etc) but the tobacco industry can't? Makes no sense.

Adults should be allowed to enjoy things they want to. Perhaps if the government was stricter with id laws and online ordering we wouldn't be in this situation. There are far too many shops I've seen that don't check ID and THAT is how kids are getting them. The flavors have nothing to do with it (remember, terrible flavors didn't stop kids of the 80s from smoking).

IMO it has more to do with online glorification than anything else

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The disposable one I'm using has a rechargeable battery and an LCD screen lol. So wasteful. I've been saving my dead ones and will be salvaging the battery and screens for a side project.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Just out of curiosity what's preventing you from getting a refillable setup? You can get refillable, rechargable vapes for about $10 more than a single disposable and it'll probably save you money within the month depending on how much you use it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well I wasn't planning on vaping for very long, just enough to stop smoking. However, I finally did get honest with myself and get a refillable not too long ago.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

bold_move.gif

The thing about shipping internationally is that you generally need a logistics partner to actually physically move the packages for you, and they also have a legal responsibility to ensure that what they are carrying is legal. I don't know what number of packages you need to have seized by customs before they stop doing business with you, but I'd doubt it's much more than 1.

As a bonus, there are only a handful of logistics companies in NZ that do international outbound, and they are the major domestic delivery companies as well, so if you fuck around enough you could end up finding out that no one will deliver your packages locally either

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Pretty sure ceased should be seized.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Those rules might apply to the sender… but the customer who places the order doesn’t get off so lightly. They can go to jail for five years for importing a drugs without a license.

That’s not even really a vape thing. Nicotine is a drug. Importing cigarettes is also illegal with the exception of travellers in person can bring a few packets with them.

It wouldn’t be hard to catch people - international shipping requires labels declaring the contents. And if the vape seller is lying on those declarations then they’re breaking NZ laws.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

I can confirm that the rules do apply to the sender. You have to declare on a package what's inside. For businesses using the normal postal system this is generally done electronically and also printed on the package so they'll just be intercepted and binned. We ship product to Australia frequently and this is how it's done. Same with private carriers but slightly different process. It's still clear what's inside.

Even if they try to avoid the ban by not putting correct customs information it'll quickly become apparent to Australian customs which packages to seize who will then work directly with the private carrier if necessary (though it is prohibitively expensive to ship to more remote locations in Australia with private carriers so unlikely they will be used).

In short this is bluster.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Darknet markets have no issues shipping millions of packages internationally that contain drugs or steroids. Why should this be any different for these vapes?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago
  • I think you'll find "millions" is an exaggeration
  • Depends on how happy you are with risking prison
[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

a lot of darknet vendors don't even bother with australia and their insane import controls, at best it's a "no refunds" type of situation

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 8 months ago (3 children)

these things have been flooding in and being sold to kids through vape stores – nine out of ten which have been established within walking distance of schools. That’s no accident, they’re doing that because that is their target market.

That's some bullshit. I assume there's already a law banning the sale of vapes to minors.
Schools are built next to residential neighborhoods. Those same neighborhoods with adults living in them are the target market, not kids. Just like cannabis stores are absolutely everywhere now in Canada (including within walking distance of most schools).

[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Turns out that most places are within walking distance of a school. Did you know HITLER breathed air?

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Went to the (rec) dispensary the other day.

There’s a house across the street, and their kids had a table set up, selling Girl Scout cookies.

Honestly nobody cares. And I hate that it’s illegal for me to park at the dispensary and leave my kids (with my wife) in the car. Under 21 not allowed on the property.

But I can bring my kids into a liquor store. I’d rather bring a bull into a China shop, but I can do it. Can’t even have them in the parking lot of the dispensary.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Unfortunately not bullshit.

Here in Australia, just about every tobacco store was selling them under the counter to kids, often still wearing their school uniforms. Worst still, most of the vapes were dodgy grey market imports with undeclared and often dangerous chemicals in them as well as nicotine. There were more of these stores near schools then there were stores that sell candy.

Common sense dispenery laws for both vapes and recreational cannabis like Canada would make sense here too but our politicians are too beholden to corporate interests and think of the children fear mongering.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Whether or not you think Australia should have such a ban, a company trying to provoke a war with a nations customs service is a true “fuck around, and find out” moment

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Are cigarettes banned as well or do they get massive taxes from their sale like in the US?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Australia is the most expensive place in the world for cigarettes so... The latter. But they won't ban it because it makes the govt. so much money.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Didn't they ban it for the younger gen?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

That's NZ, not AU, but the ban got repealed

Edit: didn't realize the online seller is based in NZ

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago

Repealed because a hard right wing government got in and removed it to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I believe they will have to start smuggling their product the old-fashioned way, I mean like the cartels do with illegal drugs.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The real question here is, are there (mostly) harmless?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago (28 children)

They fill landfills with descartable batteries, causing a lot of contamination. This is not the reason they're being banned, but it should be.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (8 children)

They are an excellent and well understood harm reduction measure compared with smoking.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (6 children)

I was just wondering in my pea sized brain how making things illegal in the past has worked out.. hrrmmm

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