Mexico’s Senate and lower house have approved a constitutional reform banning the production, distribution and sale of e-cigarettes and disposable vapes. However, the use or possession of these devices remains legal.
If ratified by at least two-thirds of the country’s 32 state legislatures, Mexico would become the first country in the world to enshrine a vape ban in its constitution.
While cigarette companies promote these devices as less harmful alternatives to smoking, a large body of research suggests that the nicotine in e-cigarettes is highly addictive, and the long-term public health effects remain unknown.
Approximately two million Mexicans use these products. In the Guadalajara metropolitan area alone, around 50 vape shops operate legally and could be forced to close under the new law.
Black market
Experts fear the ban will strengthen the black market controlled by organized crime, particularly the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
“Prohibition allows only criminal supply and will close law-abiding, pro-health Mexican businesses, drawing in young people as dealers as well as consumers,” wrote Clive Bates, former director of Action on Smoking and Health in the UK, in an open letter to Mexico’s senators before their December vote.
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