The TGA has begun communicating with doctors and vapers, the upcoming changes to accessing vape products for Australians.
Yesterday, I saw the people starting to respond, as expected, to the information the TGA was sharing.
The responses are emotional and derived around a sense of Government overstepping its control and the TGA putting too many restrictions on Australians who may want to vape.
I get the views and how much personally, vaping means to people.
This is a democratic country and I support freedom of expression and discussion and understand completely the cross section of comments provided on Facebook, in reaction to the TGA communication.
I just want, for one second, to have people step back and see what the message really is telling us:
- You can now access vape products in Australia.
- The Government has put standards in place to ensure consumers purchase in Australia, only products that meet or exceed those standards.
- Access to youth is all but eliminated.
- Tele-health is a real option to gain the prescription you need, without visiting a doctors surgery.
- Access is online (to your front door) or at a Chemist/Pharmacy, of which there are 5,700 across the country.
Would it be better to have vape products as accessible as it is in the US or the UK, yes, but for now that is not the option ahead of us.
The two questions that you can ask about the changes are:
- Will you be able to get a prescription?
- Can you get your preferred brand in Australia?
Like any prescription, that is a conversation with you and an Australian registered medical professional. The TGA has cleared a path for the doctor to know more and understand vape products are a supported TGA path to quitting cigarettes.
The TGA has said any product that meets their standards (TGO 110) can be accessed in Australia. If your brand is not accessible then it is a good chance it doesn't meet the TGA set standards.
We have been ensuring that Wild by Instinct products exceed Australian standards so Australians can easily access the product. Our product already exceeded TGO 110 standards, we needed to see the packaging written requirements (warnings) and adjust our packaging accordingly.
We have been talking with doctors and Pharmacies to ensure they have the information needed on Wild by Instinct products. When you have a prescription for our product we want you to have access where and when you want it.
We could spend the time arguing whether the outcome is what we wanted or asking you to fight the decision and make a lot of noise or simply work within the guidelines given to ensure Australians, who want to buy Wild by Instinct, have that option. At the end of the day, having product beats going without.
The real story is that 500,000 vapers and 3 million smokers can now access a globally successful tool, used by 60 million adults, to break free of cigarettes, without having to order it from a foreign country.
We’ll take the small win and move on.
