CAPHRA Warns Australian Senate: Prohibition Has Failed, Regulation Is The Only Way Forward

Sunday, 18 January 2026, 5:55 pm
Press Release: CAPHRA

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has delivered a blunt message to the Australian Senate: the country's illegal tobacco crisis is a policy failure, not an enforcement problem, and no amount of additional resources will solve a problem created by prohibition.

In a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiry into Australia's illegal tobacco crisis, CAPHRA warned that organised crime now controls a A$4 billion black market fuelled by policies that removed legal access to safer nicotine products while demand remained unchanged.

"Australia shut down legitimate adult-only vape retailers and replaced them with criminal networks selling unregulated products alongside tobacco," said Nancy Loucas, CAPHRA executive coordinator.

"The result is over 200 fire bombings, rising violence, and worse youth access - not better."

CAPHRA's submission draws on real-world experience across 11 Asia-Pacific consumer advocacy groups and compares Australia's trajectory to prohibition failures in India and Thailand, where entire markets operate underground with no age controls or product standards.

"Shops get shut down and reopen within weeks under new names or move online," Loucas said. "Criminal enterprises adapt faster than regulators. The primary problem is not enforcement capacity - it is policy design."

The coalition pointed to New Zealand and the Philippines as successful comparators, where regulated vaping markets have coincided with significant smoking declines without the scale of criminal harm now evident in Australia.

"Meaningful reform must shift the market from criminal control to regulated control," said Loucas. "Legal, adult-only retail with clear product standards is the only way to remove organised crime's monopoly over supply."

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