Arrest vape traders selling drugs, but don’t criminalise vaping, group says

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — A vape advocacy group has called for the arrest of vape traders who brew narcotics in vape liquids, but said it was unfair to use such incidents as an excuse to criminalise vaping.

Malaysian E-Vaporisers and Tobacco Alternative Association (Mevta) chairman Allan Foo said Mevta does not condone members or traders who use drugs in the industry as it violates its vaping policies.

"Mevta's official stand is if ever the government, be it the police, the Health Ministry or any other agencies, find narcotics in the e-juices, or vape liquids, please do the right enforcement.

"We are urging the government if they ever find such substance that is against the law in the e-juices, please go and arrest those who are selling it and who are brewing it...We should not have all these things happening in the industry," he told Malay Mail Online yesterday when contacted.

Foo was commenting on a news report in Malay-language daily Berita Harian yesterday that quoted Johor Health and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat as saying that drugs like marijuana, methamphetamine and ketum juice have been found in vape liquids sold in Johor.

Foo said this was all the more reason for the Health Ministry to start regulating the vape industry, instead of raiding vape shops.

"What if they start going underground given all this crackdown? Then issues like this will never be solved," he added.

He also said it is unfair for Putrajaya to pinpoint certain black sheep in the industry in justifying its move to criminalise vaping.

"If someone uses a car and kills 10 people on the street, should we not have any cars to be driven on the streets? So I will say, set a regulation for the driver," he added.

The Health Ministry raided vape shops earlier this week and confiscated nicotine products.

The ministry's director-general Datuk Noor Hisham Abdullah announced yesterday that the ministry has formed a special committee to study vaping issues and said stakeholders will be engaged after the committee meets for the first time today.