Metro South Health’s Environmental Health team are cracking down on the illicit tobacco and vape trade.
Last financial year, the team seized and destroyed close to four million cigarettes, 2,000 vapes and more than 1,020kg of loose tobacco, removing $4,378,543 worth of illegal products from the streets.
Team Leader Michelle and Operational Lead Alysse from the Environmental Health team, which sits within the Metro South Public Health Unit, say that protecting the community is at the core of the work they do.
“Up until recent years, smoking numbers were on the decline,” they said.
“We have seen a surge in people taking up smoking which can be linked to the introduction of vapes and the influx of illicit tobacco on the market, making tobacco more accessible to people, including children and those who would normally try to quit smoking.
“The health service has already seen the impact of the increased smoking numbers, and this will only get worse as the years go by if no action is taken.”
Metro South Health’s jurisdiction has the largest number of illicit tobacco retailers in Queensland, making it a busy job ensuring retailers are complying with the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998.
The Queensland legislation is in place to improve the health of members of the public by reducing their exposure to tobacco, other smoking products and illicit nicotine products.
“The number of smoking product retailers has increased significantly over recent years,” Michelle and Alysse said.
“Our small team has been responsible for inspecting retailers in the Metro South region, not only for signs of them possessing and supplying illicit tobacco and vaping goods, but also to ensure their staff are properly trained, they are not displaying or advertising smoking products, not supplying individual cigarettes and not selling drug paraphernalia.”
The team have contributed significantly to the enforcement work being carried out across the state of Queensland.
“The work we have done here as Environmental Health Officers with the Metro South Public Health Unit has created a helpful baseline for many others to commence their work within this space.
“We have created resources and shared these with other public health units across the state and the intelligence we are gathering has fed into investigations in other jurisdictions.
“We have also contributed to the introduction of new legislative and licensing requirements for illicit nicotine products, vaping goods and prohibited products, which came into effect in September 2024.
“We are really excited to have the opportunity to expand our portfolio and undertake more of this work to get these products off the streets.”
The team has no intention of slowing down, having already conducted another thirty-five inspections since August this year, seizing an additional 1.5 million cigarettes, 3,500 vaping devices and more than 300kg of loose tobacco to the value of $1,511,224.
“We love our jobs and investigating public health issues.
“Our work as Environmental Health Officers is more commonly in the preventative space, so it has been really nice to see the tangible findings and statistics in our recent work.
“The team has done what seemed like an impossible task and everyone has done an amazing job – we are really proud of them,” they added.
While this recent illicit tobacco work may seem to others like a drop in the ocean of a bigger problem, or that the issue hasn’t been resolved, the team are here for the long game and are committed to helping the community.
“Already on re-inspections, we have noticed a change for the better,” they said.
“The retailers are trying, things are improving, but the issue isn’t resolved yet and there are some retailers who we will have to continue to work with for a long time, but we have hope.
“Illicit tobacco isn’t going away, and as a team, we will continue to work with the community into the future to ensure this, and other public health issues, continue to be addressed.”