Table 1:
Arguments made in self-reported e-cigarette users’ submissions to the TGA’s consultation on introducing a prescription model for nicotine vaping products in Australia (n = 1405)
| Code | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Perceptions of the potential negative consequences associated with the TGA’s decision | 1178 | 84 |
| People will go back to smoking | 674 | 48 |
| Decision infringes upon freedom of choice | 332 | 24 |
| Seeing a doctor for a prescription will be difficult/time consuming/inconvenient | 303 | 22 |
| Black market will emerge | 276 | 20 |
| Smokers will never quit/smokers who have quit will find it harder to stay quit | 266 | 19 |
| Seeing a doctor will burden the health system/cost taxpayers money | 252 | 18 |
| People will get sick and die | 212 | 15 |
| Will cost consumers more money | 173 | 12 |
| Youth will turn to cigarettes | 131 | 9 |
| Access to the variety of products needed to quit will be denied | 66 | 5 |
| Decision will increase appeal of use among youth because they want to rebel | 42 | 3 |
| Decision will burden the health system as people will go back to smoking | 41 | 3 |
| Destroy the vaping industry | 24 | 2 |
| Smoking rates will increase | 21 | 2 |
| Put pressure on justice system/enforcement | 19 | 1 |
| Claims made about the benefits of e-cigarettes/vaping | 772 | 55 |
| Vaping has beneficial health outcomes | 601 | 43 |
| E-cigarettes are an effective quitting aid | 174 | 12 |
| Vaping is cheaper/has financial benefits | 129 | 9 |
| How e-cigarettes make it easier to quit | 95 | 7 |
| 95% factoida | 80 | 6 |
| Vaping is proven to be safer than smoking | 80 | 6 |
| Users have greater control of content | 35 | 3 |
| Vaping reduces burden on the health system | 33 | 2 |
| Vaping is not harmful to others | 29 | 2 |
| Vaping is better for the environment | 16 | 1 |
| Inconsistent treatment | 736 | 52 |
| E-cigarettes should not be restricted when more harmful tobacco products are readily available/e-cigarettes should be as accessible as nicotine replacement therapies | 671 | 48 |
| A script is not needed for tobacco cigarettes or nicotine replacement therapies | 259 | 18 |
| Alternative policy and practice approaches | 436 | 31 |
| E-cigarettes should be available in retail stores | 267 | 19 |
| Tobacco cigarettes should be harder to access | 94 | 7 |
| E-cigarettes should be taxed instead | 50 | 4 |
| Vape store staff are experts/preferred providers of information | 45 | 3 |
| Youth should be educated on the harms associated with vaping | 36 | 3 |
| Industry-led campaign | 370 | 26 |
| Motivation behind legislation | 236 | 17 |
| Revenue raising by government | 197 | 14 |
| Government is in the pocket of Big Tobacco/Pharma | 60 | 4 |
| Ploy by Big Tobacco | 11 | <1 |
| Bandwagon fallacy: need to legalize e-cigarettes as per other countries | 231 | 16 |
| Denial of evidence | 174 | 12 |
| Youth uptake is not a problem | 103 | 7 |
| Nicotine is not harmful | 50 | 4 |
| Gateway hypothesis/normalization is a fallacy | 36 | 3 |
| Only certain vapes are the problem | 13 | <1 |
| Healthcare professionals are unwilling to prescribe or dispense e-cigarettes and are not trained in how to do so | 172 | 12 |
| Harm reduction at the individual level prioritized over the population level | 105 | 8 |
| Benefits of legalizing e-cigarettes | 90 | 6 |
| Better for kids to vape than smoke | 38 | 3 |
| Create jobs/benefit economy | 33 | 2 |
| Rates of cigarette smoking will decrease | 27 | 2 |
| Government ignoring evidence | 52 | 4 |
Note. Proportions within and between codes do not add to 100% as submitters could make multiple arguments.
aRefers to the use of Public Health England’s claim that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than smoking (McNeill et al., 2015).