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Minister of digital economy and society, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, vowed to continue to push for vape legalization. Photo credit: Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn FB.
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Thai public health minister and deputy prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul remains firm in his anti-vape stance. Photo credit CC BY-NC-SA 2.0-World Economic Forum.
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Thai vaping laws remain confusing for law enforcement, government departments, and consumers.
E-cigarettes or vapes are somewhat divisive devices. For many they are a less harmful alternative to combustible cigarettes. For many others they are much worse, or at the very least just as harmful, as cigarettes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) certainly has an equal-opportunity approach to vapes, condemning them just as much as it condemns anything else tobacco or tobacco-related. A large number of anti-tobacco activists, public health bodies, and regulators happily follow WHO’s directives, whether blindly or forced to by their circumstances. Their more enlightened counterparts, on the other hand, understand vapes to be what they are – a reduced-risk alternative for people who still need (or want) their nicotine but want to avoid the carcinogens that have been scientifically proven to be caused from combusting tobacco. The UK is a leader in this area. Even New Zealand, the first country to impose a generational ban on tobacco, allows its people to use vapes as an alternative to smoking.
Vaping is currently prohibited in the following nations: Argentina, Bhutan, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Colombia, Ethiopia, Gambia, India, Iran, North Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Oman, Palestine, Panama, Qatar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Syria, Timor-Leste, , Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uruguay, Vatican City, and Venezuela. Vapes can be used in Australia only with a doctor’s prescription and in Japan only as long as the e-liquid used does not contain nicotine. Taiwan passed a total ban on the sales and use of vapes last month, and Hong Kong officially banned the importation, promotion, manufacturing, sales, and possession for commercial purposes of “alternative smoking products”, which include vapes and heated tobacco products, last year.
With punishments for violators including up to 10 years’ jail time, Thailand has some of the strictest vaping laws in the world, but it could also be said they are also some of the most confusing. Recently, authorities began to strictly enforce the laws following a much-publicized case of a Taiwanese actress being shaken down by police officers who are now facing disciplinary action.
What, exactly, is forbidden?
E-cigarettes were first introduced in Thailand in 2008, and by 2012, the devices had gained popularity among Thai smokers looking for an alternative to traditional cigarettes. However, concerns over the potential health risks associated with e-cigarettes led the government to take action to regulate the devices.
In 2014, the Thai government banned the importation of e-cigarettes and e-liquids, citing health concerns as the primary reason. The ban was introduced after a study by the Thai Ministry of Public Health found that e-cigarettes contained high levels of toxins, including formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.
The ban on importing e-cigarettes was followed by a ban on the sale of vaping products in Thailand in 2015. The ban on domestic sales and manufacturing of e-cigarettes made it illegal to sell or produce vaping products in the country, and anyone caught breaking the law could face fines of up to THB30,000 baht (approximately US$900) and even imprisonment for up to 10 years.
However, the ban on sales ended in 2019, when it was effectively undone by amendments to a key law.
At present, importation remains illegal under the Customs Act. That has not changed. However, the 2015 announcement from the Consumer Protection Board that established the ban on sales – and set harsh penalties – relied on sections of the law that were removed four years later in the 2019 update to the Consumer Protection Act, or CPA. Aside from that, an interesting point to note is that neither the Customs Act nor the CPA directly prohibit possession of e-cigarettes.
However, that has not stopped government offices and law enforcement officers from claiming otherwise. On February 2, shortly after the furor over the Taiwanese actress’ case started, the Office of the Consumer Protection Board issued a warning that even simple possession of an e-cigarette without smoking might result in a fine of four times the item’s worth and up to five years in prison. The board stated that the owner will be seen as encouraging the sale of e-cigarettes.
The commissioner of the Royal Thai Police’s Office of Legal Affairs and Litigation, Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phiwphan, also warned both international tourists and Thai citizens that it is illegal to possess an e-cigarette and that doing so can result in a fine of up to THB500,000 and a five-year prison sentence. According to Phiwphan, police must uphold the law until it is changed.
Similar warnings have also been shared by Thai embassies and other government offices such as the tourism board, further spreading the confusion whether possession and use of vapes is, in fact, illegal in Thailand. It would appear that for Thai authorities, if you are in possession of an object that is banned from being imported, manufactured, or sold in Thailand, you are thus guilty of breaking the law, even if you did not import, manufacture, or sell said object yourself.
A future just as hazy as the present
Current figures from the National Statistical Office of Thailand report there are 78,742 vapers in the country. The real numbers are most likely to be many times that, given the popularity among users and the abundance of shops, both online and offline, selling vapes and e-liquids. Combine that with the growing scientific literature supporting vapes as a tobacco harm reduction alternative and many western countries accepting the devices as such, one would think the Thai authorities would likely change their stance, especially since the country legalized cannabis last year, a first in Asia.
Public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who actively pushed for the decriminalization of cannabis, is not so liberal when it comes to vapes, telling the audience at a national conference on cigarettes and public health last August that “…a growing number of international studies found smoking e-cigarettes has negative effects on young people’s brains…,” and that by learning from the experience of other countries, there is no other option that would be more effective in controlling vaping for Thailand than banning the import of e-cigarettes.
Some believe the legalization of vapes may happen with the next government, which could be taking over in a matter of months if the current prime minister dissolves the parliament on March 20 as announced, to be followed by a general election. Even the current digital economy and society minister, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, who attempted to push for the issue last year, has announced that decriminalizing vapes would be a policy for his party in the upcoming election. “We should stop pretending [vaping has been successfully banned],” he said. “We are still struggling to deal with the problem. Most importantly, I think vaping should be legalized so the government can collect taxes from e-cigarettes for the benefit of the public. If vaping is decriminalized and related laws are amended to be compatible with people’s way of life, this would also help prevent bribery and corruption.”
The digital economy minister’s ambitious plans, shot down before by the health minister, may still face an uphill battle as five parties from both the current cabinet and opposition sides have publicly pledged they will not support legalizing vapes if they get selected to join the next cabinet. One of those parties is actually the digital economy minister’s party. Go figure.