E-Cigs Ruled Illegal In Australia

Those Aussies sure do have a funny interpretation of the word 'health'.

From Aussie Vapers:

After [HeavenlyVapours.com] had been running for almost a year and was doing very well (rating on the first page of Google results etc) we suddenly got raided by the Health Department. They arrived at my house in 3 black SUV's and proceeded to execute a search warrant. They searched through my house and proceeded to load all of the hardware I had into several black garbage bags. The search and seizure went on for about an hour and half before they decided they had found and taken enough. They also took photos etc. The whole process was pretty invasive and surreal. They alleged at the time that I and my company had breached section 106a of the Tobacco Products Control Act 2006.

A long process ensued which resulted in the company being acquitted in October 2013.

This made the professional bansturbators of Western Australia mighty mad. They simply cannot contemplate the existence of anything that even resembles a cigarette and fully believed they had just the law to prohibit the devices.

Court defeat fuels move to ban e-cigs

Yep, that's correct. Defeat just made them more determined to try harder next time.

Cancer Council WA director of education and research Terry Slevin said it was a legal loophole that needed to be fixed because electronic cigarettes were a growing concern. 

Mr Slevin said the Tobacco Products Control Act was due for a review and could help ban e-cigarettes as well as address issues such as the need to reduce the number of licensed tobacco retailers. 

"This incident of a failed attempt to prosecute points to the fact that the current provisions are not adequate," he said.

As a result, the WA "Health" Department (inverted commas because, as you know, it's nothing to do with health) sprang into action once again (emphases mine).

[T]he Health Department or more particularly Bruce Hawkings of the health department a few weeks later lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court. 

We appeared in the Supreme Court and we and the prosecution made our various arguments. The Judge J Pritchard adjourned the matter for deliberation. Yesterday on the 10 of April 2014 we were summoned to receive the judgement. 

Judge Pritchard found in favour of the Health Department and in her decision expanded her conclusion to determine that in effect any product E-Cig or otherwise that involves a hand to mouth action and results in the expulsion of vapour does in fact resemble a tobacco product and [therefore] falls under section 106a of the Tobacco Products Control Act of 2006.

What does this mean? Well in short it means any model of E-Cig irrespective of its design is now illegal by case law precedent to be sold from within WA. One can only imagine that the other states may now try to follow suit.

And so, by way of judicial precedent, e-cigs are now ruled illegal in Australia.

This is a perfect example of the irrational, and borderline insane, mentality of a tobacco control industry drunk on power and aided by pathetically weak will of idiot politicians. Precisely the same conditions which led the US into prohibition of alcohol nearly a century ago - the damaging reverberations of which are still in evidence today - with precisely the same type of psychotic individuals running amok to the murderous detriment of the public at large.

Anyone who claims to call themselves part of the 'public health' community in Australia should be feeling deeply ashamed of themselves today. But I expect they'll be celebrating instead.

There's a very special place in Hell reserved for each and every one of them.