Authorities have blitzed retailers and comfort shops in New South Wales to grab greater than $1 million of unlawful vapes and vaping merchandise this 12 months.
The in depth collection of raids carried out by NSW Well being has taken the entire quantity of unlawful merchandise seized since July 2020 to greater than $3 million.
Retailers promoting unlawful vaping merchandise will face penalties, NSW Chief Well being Officer Dr Kerry Chant warned.
"We're cracking down on the unlawful sale of nicotine e-cigarettes and liquids and taking a zero-tolerance method to those that promote them," Chant stated.
NSW Well being is "recurrently" conducting raids on retailers throughout the state, she stated.
"You can be caught, unlawful gadgets will likely be seized, and you could possibly face prosecution, leading to being fined and even jailed."
Vaping is a severe well being threat for individuals, Chant stated, particularly the younger.
"Individuals assume they're merely flavoured water however in actuality, in lots of circumstances they're smoking and ingesting toxic chemical compounds that may trigger life threatening accidents."
Since final October, vape merchandise containing nicotine are solely legally accessible when prescribed by a GP for the aim of quitting smoking.
Gross sales, together with on-line, of nicotine vaping merchandise is prohibited.
The utmost penalty is $1650 per offence and as much as six months in jail.
NSW Well being can also be cracking down on retailers promoting authorized non-nicotine vapes to minors.