IS the government planning to legalise vaping after it has proposed to tax vaping liquids containing nicotine, asked Gopeng lawmaker Dr Lee Boon Chye today.

The former deputy health minister said that vaping liquids that contain nicotine are currently controlled under the Poisons Act 1952 and as such cannot be sold as other consumer products.

“How can the government tax a product that is already illegal?” said Lee during the debate on Budget 2022 in Dewan Rakyat today.

“What is the mechanism for the government to legalise the sale of vaping liquids that contain nicotine?”

He said that the existing controls had already failed as vaping is now prevalent among Malaysian adults and adolescents.

“The 2016 survey on tobacco and e-cigarette usage by the National Institute of Health Malaysia showed that 9.1% or 300,000 teens aged between 10-19 use vape and 21% of students have used vape before.

“This shows that vaping is widespread,” Lee said.

“How is the government going to stop the usage if it allows nicotine vape products to be sold as other consumer products?”

He said the way to curb smoking was to stop it altogether and not to ask smokers to switch to products such as vaping or e-cigarettes as the latter are not “100% safe” alternatives.

On October 29, Finance Minister Senator Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said that the government plans to introduce an excise duty on liquid or gel products containing nicotine used for electronic cigarettes or vapes. – November 8, 2021.