PETALING JAYA: Only locally manufactured vape liquid in sealed bottles should be allowed to be sold in the country, says Malaysian Substance Abuse Council (Masac) secretary-general Raja Azizan Suhaimi.
“Masac proposed that only flavoured vape liquid made in the country be allowed to be sold using bottles whose seals cannot be opened to prevent other substances from being added,” he said in statement yesterday.
He said the vape liquid must be sold in glass bottles to prevent other substances from being injected into the bottle.
On April 26, three 13-year-old girls who were offered to try out a “new vape flavour” ended up being gang raped by four teen suspects at a lodging house in in Kg Air, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Raja Azizan said there was a likelihood the vape liquid used in the incident derived from a type of magic mushroom, which is from the psilocybin family that is hallucinogenic in nature, that could cause a person to faint.
He said a joint study by Masac, Asian Centre for Research on Drug Abuse and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia found that there was a growing tendency among schooling teenage girls to use vape liquid which are flavoured with the mushroom drug.
He said that so far, only 10 manufacturers producing liquid nicotine were registered with the Customs Department since the registration deadline ended on April 30, although a large number of flavoured vape liquid sold currently are imported.
Raja Azizan also suggested that the age limit to allow vaping should be raised from 18 to 21 and above to minimise the abuse of vape liquid which may contain drugs by the young.
In October 2022, the previous government attempted to regulate the use of vape among youth by tabling the Generational End Game (GEG) Bill in the Dewan Rakyat.
Under the Bill, children born in 2007 and subsequent years will be banned from smoking, buying or possessing any type of smoking product, including electronic cigarettes or vape products, even after reaching the age of 18.
However, the Bill met with some resistance and was referred to a Special Parliamentary Select Committee (PSSC) for refinement.
When tabling the revised Budget 2023 on Feb 24, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said nicotine vape liquids are still illegally sold in the country with an estimated RM2bil or more in sales.
In March this year, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the retabling of the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill, or GEG Bill, would be expedited.
