5 days ago
NST Leader: Malaysia's drug-laced vape crisis
Whether we like it or not, we must acknowledge that Malaysia is facing a vape crisis.
We can't claim to be surprised. Malaysia's Health and Morbidity Survey, as long ago as 2022, alerted the nation of the growing danger: 14.9 per cent of school students aged 13-17 were vape users.
Three states have done the wise thing. Perlis, Terengganu and Johor have either banned vaping or stopped issuing licences to vape traders. But Malaysia isn't just the three states.
A nationwide ban is needed if we want to save our teenagers from ruining their lives, and simultaneously protecting the nation's future.
True, as lawyers point out, there is a chance for state laws to be in conflict with federal laws to the extent the former aren't consistent with the latter as spelt out in Article 75 of the Federal Constitution.
A nationwide ban will avoid this. What takes a country to a good place? Human resources — the educated and healthy ones. Both of these are a challenge when Malaysians start vaping as early as 12.
The vape industry is big. According to the Malaysian Vape Industry Study 2023 by the Malaysian Vape Chamber of Commerce, the business was worth RM3.48 billion in 2023.
There were 306 vape industry players in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Melaka and Penang alone in 2022.
The industry as a whole employed 31,500 people, more than double that of 2019. The study also revealed that there were 1.4 million adult vape users. Sure, traders and workers will be impacted.
But why perpetuate an unhealthy — even a dangerous — trade that will only cost the government more in health bills later? Isn't prevention better than cure?
Prevention was also in the mind of Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, when, on April 17, he urged other states to ban vaping. His call to action is not about a future threat, but a present danger.
The police are detecting more and more vape use being linked to synthetic drug abuse, he told reporters.
A worrying 65 per cent of vape contents had methamphetamine and ecstasy, two drugs favoured by teenagers. Students as young as 13 years old were found using vape devices containing liquids mixed with drugs.
Welcome to the world of drug-laced vapes, known as "Kpods", whose deceptive flavours lead the young into the venomous world of zombies.
One puff and the rest is an addled-mind story. Little do the teenagers realise the long-term neurological and organ damage such "zombie" drugs cause.
If this isn't worrying enough, vape-drug processing laboratories are being discovered around the country.
On April 16, the police uncovered a drug laboratory in Kedah processing vape liquids containing drugs. The processed drugs were meant for distribution in Kedah, Penang and the Klang Valley.
The police arrested 61 people and seized RM6 million worth of drugs in the raid. If drug syndicates used to import them from the Golden Triangle, they have now set up drug processing labs here, with generous help from greedy locals.
