Local chemists left in the dark over vaping changes

The co-owner of the TerryWhite Chemmart in Ainslie said the last-minute change to the government's anti-vaping bill could encourage vapers to visit multiple chemists to stockpile products.

"I think there's a concern about overuse and I think it's become a little easier for someone to get," Mr Biesiek-Wright told The Canberra Times on Tuesday.

In the ACT, he said, there was no mandatory recording of products categorised as schedule 3 medications under the Poisons Standard.

Mr Butler's deal with the Greens will down-schedule nicotine vaping products currently sold with a GP prescription, to allow pharmacists to sell them over-the-counter.

"I think there needs to be a lot of discussion [with pharmacists]," Mr Biesiek-Wright said.

"I'm not saying we wouldn't do it, but there are a lot of considerations that need to be made."

Like the Pharmacy Guild that represents the nation's more than 5300 community pharmacists, which opposes the change, Mr Biesiek-Wright was unaware of the government's backflip on its original proposal to ban all nicotine vapes sold without a prescription.

Despite receiving "dozens of calls" from patients seeking more information, he was in the dark.

"I think [the federal government] has to be very clear about what the expectations are for community pharmacists," he said.

The guild's vice president Anthony Tassone told the ABC on Tuesday: "Pharmacies did not ask for this. Patients didn't ask for this."

He said neither the Greens nor the government had consulted the guild on the proposal, which will go to a vote in the Senate on Wednesday morning.

The federal government announced watered-down changes to its third tranche of anti-vaping laws after striking a deal with the Greens on Tuesday.

Under the deal, which if passed would roll out in October, chemists would sell regulated nicotine vapes as a schedule 3 medication for adults aged over 18.

People aged under 18 would still need to obtain a prescription from their GP.

Co-owner of the Pharmacy on Northbourne Chris Lawler said he supports a non-prescription model in principle, but wants to see clear guidelines about how it would work.

"We have a big drug and alcohol cohort in the community who have multiple addictions and vaping is just one of them. So there are people who will need them," Mr Lawler told The Canberra Times.

"But it's a grey area where vaping will fit in terms of guidelines of smoking cessation and nicotine dependence treatments."

Health Minister Mark Butler said pharmacies would be well-equipped to adjust to a non-prescription model as given they already sell vapes under restricted conditions.

"I think this is a sensible balance of open access and serious reform to return these products to its original intention which was therapeutic," Mr Butler said.