Thousands of West Australians are risking hefty fines by using nicotine electronic cigarettes as the State Government moves to tighten laws that could outlaw vaping as much as smoking.

Inquiries by The West Australian have found widespread use of liquid nicotine, despite its supply and use being banned in Australia.

Under WA’s Medicines and Poisons Act, people can be fined $45,000 for possessing the product but many users are either unaware of the laws or take the risk. About 3.1 per cent of Australians aged 14 and over are estimated to have used vaping.

Flavoured “lolly liquids” can be used in WA despite being illegal to sell but many vapers use nicotine — the substance that makes tobacco products addictive — to help people quit smoking. But the jury remains out on their safety.

They are considered “harm-less” but not harmless, with British agency Public Health England estimating they are 95 per cent less dangerous than smoking.

A recent Greek study found that although not risk-free, e-cigarettes “can substantially reduce the exposure of smokers to harmful toxins.”

But a bulk of evidence suggests they are not innocuous.

Camera Icon Dr Joe Kosterich believes E -cigarettes are a valid tool to help smokers quit tobacco. Credit: Steve Ferrier

Laws governing electronic cigarettes in Australia are inconsistent, including in WA which effectively bans the sale of non-nicotine products by making it illegal to supply anything that resembles a tobacco product.

But WA is one of the few States not to ban people using them in non-smoking areas. A parliamentary committee report chaired by Labor MLA Janine Freeman last year conceded the State’s laws were incomplete and loosely enforced.

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that many West Australians are unaware that nicotine e-cigarettes are illegal in Australia, and that selling a device that resembles a tobacco product is illegal in WA,” she wrote.

“For the time being at least, we have to work around a nonsensical regulation that allows the sale of nicotine for indisputably harmful tobacco products but not for a product which is widely regarded as less harmful.”

WA Health Minister Roger Cook, who supports a ban on e-cigarettes until their safety and effectiveness have been proved, said a review of WA’s tobacco laws would look at e-cigarettes.

“Towards the end of 2018, the Department of Health will conduct a further review of tobacco laws and I expect issues around all e-cigarettes to be front and centre,” he said.

But Perth GP Joe Kosterich said several of his patients had weaned off smoking by using e-cigarettes.

“The more you delve into it you realise that the problem in tobacco smoking is that nicotine, while it doesn’t cause the lung cancer, is what keeps people smoking,” he said.

“We’ve done well in the past in reducing smoking, but maybe there’s more we can do, especially as smoking rates have plateaued between 2013 and 2016 despite increases in tax and plain packaging.

“Many countries have now gone down the path of legalising vaping, but in Australia unfortunately the attitude seems to be there’s nothing more we can do other than more of the same.”

Dr Kosterich said there was also resistance to e-cigarettes because the tobacco industry had moved into the area.

But Cancer Council WA director of education and research Terry Slevin said it was right to be suspicious about the role of a discredited industry.

“Having said that, I’m open to good quality evidence and what it tells us is that we’re seeing undoubted progress in reducing the number of people smoking, with a rate of less than 5 per cent among high school kids,” he said.

He said more research was needed.

‘It’s changed my life’

Sam Milton started smoking when he was 15 and by three years ago was getting through a packet a day.

Then he started using e-cigarettes, initially as well as smoking, before eventually giving up tobacco, and the 28-year-old said there had been benefits for his health and wallet.

“It’s obviously a lot cheaper, but the biggest difference has been my health because I sleep better and my partner likes it because I don’t smell of cigarettes,” Mr Milton said.

“My sense of smell and taste have come back and I have a lot more time in my day now because I’m not always nipping out every hour or so for a cigarette, so it’s changed my life.”

He said he made his own flavours and saw vaping as a hobby just like brewing beer at home. Despite WA laws not banning vaping in smoke-free areas, Mr Milton said he did not use e-cigarettes in areas where smoking was banned.

“There is a bit of etiquette in that you wouldn’t do it where you wouldn’t smoke, out of common courtesy, and also not everyone understands it is vapour, not smoke,” he said.

Alan Ballantyne has been vaping for two years and has been smoke-free for 12 months, after 31 years as a smoker.

The 50-year-old said he had never thought he could give up smoking because he enjoyed it too much, even though he knew it was probably killing him. “I feel fantastic now, and I sleep so much better,” he said.