In Australia, tobacco packets like snus have been banned since 1991 as part of a consumer product ban on all smokeless tobacco products. This means that other smokeless tobacco products such as chewing tobacco, snuff, dissolving tobacco sticks and tablets are also banned from sale in Australia.
In Australia, tobacco-free nicotine pouches cannot legally be sold in mainstream retail outlets such as tobacco shops or convenience stores, but the reasons for this are more complicated.
In Australia, under the Poisons Standard, nicotine is a prescription medicine, with two exceptions: Nicotine is available in tobacco products prepared and packaged for smoking, such as cigarettes, roll-your-own cigarettes and cigars, and in therapeutic preparations as smoking cessation aids, such as nicotine patches, gum, mouth spray and lozenges.
If a nicotine-containing product does not fall into one of these two exceptions, it cannot be legally sold in general retail stores. Currently, nicotine pouches are not approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration as an aid to smoking cessation treatment, so simply put, they are not legal to sell in Australia.
However, nicotine pouches can only be legally imported for personal use if you have a prescription from a medical professional who can assess whether the product is suitable for your personal use.
Because nicotine pouches are a very new product in Australia, there is no hard data, only anecdotal reports, but we do know that authorities are increasingly seizing these products from retailers. It is highly unlikely that young people using nicotine pouches are obtaining them through legal channels.