'Candy' kiosk sparks outrage for illegal vape sales despite government's promise to crack down on public health scourge

Sky News AU

6 days ago

A Melbourne "candy" kiosk has sparked outrage on social media for its conspicuous sale of illegal vapes - despite the government's promise to crack down on non-pharmacy retailers selling them.
The shop in Melbourne's CBD advertises vapes as "cheap" on a small billboard, with two fluorescent signs reading "Candy" on the storefront.
A lit-up picture of a giant lollipop is also featured on one wall, along with the words "Sweet Spot".
An outraged Reddit user on Sunday shared a photo of the store and said: "I don't get it — isn't selling vapes illegal?"
"How come the CBD is full of kiosks openly selling them with signs right out in the open?" they said.
The shop is one of many that has made little effort to disguise the sale of vapes even after vaping reforms passed in 2024.
The reforms limit vape sales to pharmacies and mandate consultations with pharmacists.
Convenience stores and tobacconists continue to sell vapes illegally in part due to the highly profitable black market.
One person took to the comments to say the 'candy' store immediately jumped on the illegal bandwagon after the ban.
"This store cracks me up every f***ing time," they said.
"Two years back, the sign straight up said 'VAPES', and there was a puff of smoke where the lollipop is now.
"Then the whole ban became a thing, and overnight they rebranded to CANDY, sold NO candy, took down the smoke and propped up the most cartoonish lollipop and continued selling vapes like nothing changed."
"It's f***ing hilarious, massive respect for the sheer audacity of it."
Another person said: "The ban that was supposed to deter kids [from vaping] has caused vape stores which rebranded to candy stores now selling vapes as well as candy."
Another person claimed police do nothing to stop the sale of disposable vapes even though the government's ban extends to all types of vapes.
"They banned the ones that were reusable and do nothing about disposables," they said.
"If you want to see the police take action, open a shop that sells reusable vapes, they will be there the next day to give you a million-dollar fine."
A third person said police don't have enough resources to "enforce these dumb laws"
"There's a vape shop directly across from the cop shop on Sydney road."
Health Minister Mark Butler in July told The Daily Telegraph the Albanese government's 'world-leading' vaping reforms, designed to reduce the health risks associated with vaping among young people, are working.
However, recent statistics show young people are smoking and vaping more than they were before the ban came into effect.
The data revealed more than one in 10 adults aged 18-24 are smoking cigarettes, marking a 36 per cent increase in less than a year.
Further documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph reveal one in every 1,686 vape sales (0.06 per cent) occurs legally through a pharmacy.
Organised crime syndicates have been importing vapes, of which more than 10 million are sold nationally every month on the black market.
The boom comes despite Mr Butler in October 2024 warning businesses the government was prepared prosecute stores caught selling vapes outside licensed pharmacies.
'We are starting to choke off supply coming in from overseas," Mr Butler said.
'We're seeing that from some of the reports from overseas countries like China as well, that exports to Australia are down markedly.
'Vape stores are starting to shut. In my electorate, for example, there were seven vape stores. They've all shut."
Shadow health minister Anne Rustonin in June told Sky News the government's model of only allowing vape sales in pharmacies created the booming black market.
'We told the government when they put this policy forward that it wasn't going to work,' Ms Ruston said.
'The government knew right from the get-go that the prescription-only model wasn't working.
'The real tragedy of all this is the fact that young Australians particularly (are being) forced into the hands of organised crime to access vapes.
'Organised crime is benefiting from the failure of this government's policy.'
Under the government's vaping reforms, vendors caught illegally selling vapes face penalties of up to seven years in prison and fines of up to $2.2 million.
The penalty has put the sale of vapes at comparable levels to heroin trafficking – up to $1 million and life imprisonment, from 10 to 25 years.