Mexico is a step closer to becoming the first country ever to enshrine a ban on vapes into its constitution.
The Senate in Mexico yesterday voted unanimously to pass the reform, which will ban the production, distribution and sale of all types of vapes.
The law must now pass the Congresses in each of Mexico’s 28 states - which it is expected to do - before being enacted.
The Mexican government says it is concerned about the potential health risks of vaping and increasing numbers of young people becoming addicted to nicotine.
Driving the vaping market underground
However, critics of the ban warn that it will lead to a boom in an already thriving and dangerous black market and a loss of potential tax revenue.
Cuauhtemoc Rivera, president of the National Alliance of Small Merchants, told the Milenio TV network:
"There are close to two million consumers of these products and by banning their commercialisation... they are handing this market over to the black market."
There are also fears the ban could push up Mexico’s already high smoking rate of 11.6 per cent, which equates to 15 million people. Smoking kills more than 50,000 people in the country a year, while vaping is proven not to cause any tobacco-related illnesses.
The sale and import of vapes has previously been banned in Mexico. However, the products are still widely available after the ban was successfully challenged in court and ruled as “unconstitutional.”
Almost impossible to reverse
The latest move by the country’s leading Morena party - which has an overwhelming majority - to add the ban to the Mexican constitution’s Article 4 (the ‘right to health’) means it will be near impossible to reverse.
The proposal passed the lower house of the federal congress earlier this week, with 410 votes for and just 24 against.
Although vapes are technically already illegal in Mexico, a flourishing black market led by criminal gangs exists, and nearly two million Mexicans are reported to vape.
Meanwhile the constitutional amendment will not ban cigarettes, which kill up to half of all regular smokers.
Vape ban includes the drug Fentanyl
The new reform also sanctions the "production, distribution and sale of toxic substances, chemical precursors, the illicit use of fentanyl and other non-authorised synthetic drugs."
Fentanyl, while approved for some use medically, is also already banned in Mexico but remains widely available.
Opposition legislator Ector Jaime Ramirez warned that banning vapes and fentanyl in the same reform was excessive and "trivialising to the effort being made to combat the most addictive and dangerous drugs."
Vape advocates and anti-smoking campaigners argue that a more effective alternative to banning vapes would be to regulate them in a similar way to tobacco and alcohol. These are monitored by health agencies, taxed, and illegal to buy for under 18s.
