Maldives announces vape ban, amendments to be sent to Parliament this week

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has announced a complete ban on vape and vape related products in the country, with instructions to relevant authorities to implement the changes over two specific dates.

The announcement was made via X (formerly Twitter) in which the President detailed the new changes.

According to the post, import of all vape products and individual parts of vape devices is to be made illegal from November, 15, 2024 onwards. Additionally, the use, possession, production, sale, advertisement and distribution of all vape products will be banned from December, 15, 2024.

The president said that relevant authorities have now been instructed to implement these decisions.

This decision comes following an overwhelming amount of requests from the parents and health service providers urging to ban the electronic smoking device in Maldives.

The first request was made on September 12 by NDC Alliance, an organisation working to combat non communicable diseases in the country. After the organisation's letter, the Doctors Association and Nurses Association also called for a ban in addition to various sports associations as well.

A recent discovery of enough vapes to fill up a big box in a Malé school over the span of a week also sparked outrage among parents, who petitioned for a ban on the devices as well.

In response, the government has announced a ban, marking one of the toughest anti-smoking measures taken by the Maldivian government in recent years.

Following President Muizzu's announcement, Attorney General Ahmed Usham said that proposed amendments to existing laws will be forwarded to the Parliament within this week, in order to facilitate the ban.

Usham's announcement was also made via X, in which he also welcomed the ban of vapes which he described as a decision made "for the sake of our children, youth and the entire Maldivian population."

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), 150 people are expected to die directly from smoking related causes in the Maldives of barely half a million people.

Doctors Association quoted WHO's data and said that smoking accounts for 85 percent of lung cancer cases, and that eight million people die each year from various diseases cause by tobacco use. Out of this, 1.3 million people die from second hand smoking.

According to figures shared with Mihaaru News by Maldives Customs Service, MVR 124,342,915 worth of vapes and e-cigarettes have been imported to the Maldives between 2018 and July of this year. The figure was at MVR 104,564 million between 2018 to 2023, while it was at MVR 19.5 between January and July this year alone.

Speaking with Mihaaru News last July, Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan said that their focus on banning vapes was because drugs are sometimes added into the flavours of the pods. This creates opportunities to recruit children into the drug business as well, he said, adding that their drug operations also revealed drugs in vape sticks.

The government also acknowledged that the use of vapes in the country has become a national issue, especially due to its prevalence in school environments.

Currently 50 countries are implementing bans on vapes, including at least 5 countries in the Asian region.