Hollie Hughes, committee chair for the Senate select committee on tobacco harm reduction, has made her thoughts on the matter of vaping as it pertains to tobacco harm reduction quite clear as she was recently quoted as having said that she believes vaping is "an incredibly powerful cessation tool" that is "part of [the] discussion of further reducing smoking rates in Australia" and that she does not think non-smokers are going to start vaping.
"I would like to see recommendations around very serious regulation," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Hughes as having said. "I don't think anyone is going to be a non-smoker and take it up. I think it's an incredibly powerful cessation tool and part of [the] discussion of further reducing smoking rates in Australia."
The committee that Hughes chairs have opened an inquiry into nicotine vaping products. According to Hughes, over 8000 submissions have been sent to the committee and they have been overwhelmingly supportive of vaping while outright rejecting the proposed prescription model.
Hughes is by no means alone in her views on vaping as they relate to smoking cessation. In fact, one of the submissions that her committee received was from none other than Michael Johnsen MP.
Johnsen, Member for the Upper Hunter in the NSW Parliament and a Member of The Nationals, sent his own submission to the Senate Inquiry in which he made clear his support for vaping as a smoking cessation method that he has personally used to successfully quit smoking after 40 years.
In his submission, he called for nicotine vaping products to be made "as widely available as tobacco products – and without a prescription." Johnsen also cited what he referred to as "overwhelming evidence" that vaping is not only "far safer" than smoking cigarettes but also "a proven method" for quitting smoking.