Nicotine vaping products as a harm reduction tool among smokers: Review of evidence and implications for pharmacy practice

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Erku, Daniel
Gartner, Coral E
Morphett, Kylie
Snoswell, Centaine L
Steadman, Kathryn J
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2020
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Abstract

With the growing popularity and use of nicotine vaping products (NVPs, also known as e-cigarettes) as a way to quit smoking, pharmacy staff are frequently asked by smokers for advice about NVPs. In Australia, there are currently no clear guidelines or policy statements provided by any of the professional organisations for pharmacists on how they should handle customer enquiries about NVPs, or on extemporaneous compounding of prescriptions for nicotine solution for use in NVPs as a smoking cessation aid. This commentary summarises the current evidence surrounding the safety and efficacy of NVPs, the Australian regulatory landscape, and provides a guide for pharmacy staff to use in discussions with customers regarding NVPs. Evidence strongly points to NVPs being considerably less harmful than smoking tobacco cigarettes and that they can be effective for smoking cessation. The maximum benefit from using NVPs as a harm reduction tool, however, will only be realised if smokers completely stop smoking rather than using NVPs as a partial substitute, because even low level smoking still confers substantial health risk. Vaping products containing nicotine are illegal to sell in Australia but users can still legally access nicotine e-liquid through some limited pathways if they hold a valid prescription from a registered medical practitioner. It is important that pharmacy staff keep abreast of the current evidence surrounding these products and provide evidence-based advice to customers.

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Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy

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16

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9

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© 2020 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.

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Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences

Health services and systems

Public health

Science & Technology

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Public, Environmental & Occupational Health

Pharmacology & Pharmacy

E-cigarettes

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Erku, D; Gartner, CE; Morphett, K; Snoswell, CL; Steadman, KJ, Nicotine vaping products as a harm reduction tool among smokers: Review of evidence and implications for pharmacy practice, Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 2020, 16 (9), pp. 1272-1278

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