BERWICK
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Thursday, 4 July, 2024
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Plenty to do as winter sets in With freezing early mornings, winter is well underway and this is especially the case for three-year-old Bella, three-year-old Lola and their families as they graced the ice rinks at Frosted’s A Winter Spectacular. Jumping from the inflatable snowland to ballpits, and donned in red and blue, the two little ones took to the ice and weren’t afraid to show off their skating skills. Story inside
Three-year-old Bella and two-year-old Lola with their mum and grandmother from Narre Warren South ice skating. 416291 Picture: GARY SISSONS
Vaping crackdown By Ethan Benedicto Pharmacists have criticised the new vape reforms introduced this month, agreeing that while they may be the best equipped to provide vapes for therapeutic services, more should have been done in preparation. The new regulations have seen the domestic manufacture, commercial possession and sale of non-therapeutic and disposable vapes banned from 1 July. Ganesh Tumkur, pharmacist and owner of Berwick Springs Pharmacy said that if any profession were qualified to take on the role,
cessation aids for a number of reasons, one with the missing approval from the TGA, and the lack of solid research that suggests vaping helps with smoking addiction. Founder of Drug Education Australia Sharon Torpey said that “we don’t want young people vaping at all whether it’s regulated or not, inhaling anything other than oxygen is not ideal”. “Some people are justifying vaping for getting off smoking addictions but there’s no research anywhere that vaping is an effective way to do that,” she said. Continued page 5
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to bearing the responsibility of sale and counsel concerning the purchase of vapes, he also added that the duty of “the pharmacy is to ethically and medically supply a vape to a patient”. However, a fine line needs to be established to ensure that pharmacies retain their status as medical providers for smoking cessation devices and or methods, and do not fall under the label of an alternative vape provider. “The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) needs to work with vape manufacturers to develop products that are considered smoking cessation aids,” Mr Tumkur said. Currently, vapes aren’t considered smoking
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pharmacists were the best equipped for the occasion. “We tend to deal more with smoking cessation more than anybody else in the community, so I don’t have an issue with it,” Mr Tumkur said. Beginning 1 October, only pharmaceutical supply chains are permitted to distribute and supply vapes with a concentration of 20mg/ ml or less to patients 18 years or over without a prescription as long as pharmacists deem it clinically appropriate. While Mr Tumkur agreed that pharmacists aren’t appropriately reimbursed when it comes