ISTANBUL

“Recreational” vaping in Australia will be banned, Health Minister Mark Butler said Tuesday, in the country’s major health reform.

Butler said the government will increase taxes on tobacco by 5% over the next three years, beginning September.

“Vaping was sold as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit, not a recreational product – especially not one targeted to our kids,” Butler said on Twitter.

“Young people who vape are three times as likely to take up smoking, and under 25s are the only cohort in the community currently recording an increase in smoking rates. This must end,” he added.

According to Australia’s Health Ministry, “E-cigarettes are devices that make vapor for inhalation, simulating cigarette smoking.

“They are sometimes marketed as a way to quit smoking, but there’s not enough evidence to show that they help – or are safe. In Australia, all e-cigarettes that contain nicotine require a prescription.”

Addressing a news conference Tuesday, Butler unveiled a “crackdown on recreational vaping,” which comes after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) “provided the government with a clear road map following community and health group consultation,” local broadcaster 9News reported.

“To obtain an import permit, an importer will have to show that the vapes that they propose to sell comply with new standards and processes established by the TGA," Butler said.

"They will have to be imported for sale only in pharmacies. The import of vapes for sale in retail settings will end.

“These are supposed to be pharmaceutical products so they will have to present that way, no more bubble gum flavors, pink unicorns or vapes disguised as highlighter pens for kids to hide in their pencil cases,” he explained.