Blanket e-cigarette ban not enough

The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) on Sept. 8 set up e-cigarette collection spots across Taiwan, allowing people to voluntarily and anonymously dispose of their devices. In just more than one month, 633kg of e-cigarettes had been collected. Assuming each device weighs about 50g, that amounts to more than 12,000 e-cigarettes.

On Monday last week, civic groups called on the Legislative Yuan to expedite an amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) that would penalize possessing e-cigarettes.

The law already prohibits the manufacture, importation, sale, supply, display, advertising and use of e-cigarettes. Users can be fined between NT$2,000 and NT$10,000, but a legal loophole remains when it comes to mere possession. Closing this loophole is necessary, but if efforts to curb youth e-cigarette use ultimately amount to little more than fining anyone caught with one, they would do little to address the more complex issues of online purchases, distribution on school campuses, disguised products and psychoactive substances being mixed into vape cartridges.

The largest challenge in regulating e-cigarette use is that the devices are small, come in a wide variety of designs and are sold largely through online channels. Some products resemble USB flash drives, pens or other electronic devices, making them difficult for parents and teachers to identify at a glance. Transactions can also take place through social media platforms, messaging apps or private groups.

The act prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes, but to effectively reduce young people’s access to these products, enforcement should prioritize supply chains and sellers. The government could establish a rapid, cross-platform reporting mechanism that allows health authorities, police and digital platforms to jointly investigate accounts selling illegal products, relevant keywords, payment methods and recurring sellers. Enforcement should be more stringent for those involved in large-scale imports, manufacturing or long-term sales than for people found in possession of e-cigarettes. As long as these products remain readily accessible, they would continue to find their way back into schools, even if on-campus inspections and penalties are increased.

The HPA’s latest survey on youth smoking behavior found that about 2.1 percent of junior-high school students and 5.1 percent of senior and vocational high school students use e-cigarettes, with an estimated total of at least 40,000 young users. For underage students caught in possession of an e-cigarette for the first time, the policy priority should be to stop them from using it, determine where it was obtained and prevent the child from developing a dependence.

If possession is formally criminalized or made punishable under future amendments, a tiered response system could be established. For the first offense, students could receive health education, smoking cessation counseling and consultations involving their parents. Administrative penalties could be increased for repeated offenses or cases involving the sale of e-cigarettes. Such a system would give schools more tools to intervene while reducing the risk of students hiding the problem for fear of being punished. Vape cartridges containing controlled substances should instead be handled under drug laws, with efforts to trace their source conducted simultaneously.

There are 432 e-cigarette collection spots across the nation, and more than 12,000 devices were collected in just more than one month. This suggests that there is a substantial number of e-cigarettes in circulation that need to be removed from the market. If possession is formally made punishable, the government could establish a clear grace period before the new penalties take effect, encouraging people to voluntarily surrender their devices and publishing details of collection methods and disposal procedures. This would help remove existing products from circulation while reducing controversy over people being penalized immediately because they are unaware of the new law.

Collection data could be used to identify product brands, sources, designs and areas where more devices are circulating. This would allow the government to track changes in the market without collecting anyone’s personal information. By linking the new e-cigarette collection system with enforcement intelligence, authorities could turn it from a transitional policy measure into an important source of data about the underground market.

E-cigarette governance must move beyond a blanket ban to a comprehensive system that prevents young people’s use of emerging tobacco products and other addictive substances. The government could publish annual data on youth usage rates, cases of illegal online sales, school reports, referrals for cessation treatment and sources of illegal products, while tracking whether legislative amendments have effectively reduced usage rates.

Administrative penalties can only address those who are caught. It is more important that the government makes it harder for these products to enter Taiwan and be sold online, while ensuring that students who try e-cigarettes for the first time can leave the environment in which they use them as early as possible.

The collection of more than 10,000 e-cigarette devices is a warning sign, but it is also an opportunity for the government to reassess its approach. Only when supply-side enforcement, school education, addiction treatment services, online regulation and legal accountability work in tandem can e-cigarette control move beyond simply catching offenders to becoming a public health policy aimed at reducing the risks of exposure and addiction for the next generation.

Roger Chen is a legal specialist for a technology corporation.