‘Buy nicotinated e-cigs only from licensed pharmacists’

KUALA LUMPUR: Those hooked on nicotinated e-cigarettes will only be allowed to buy them from licensed pharmacists and pharmacies. Only these two, said the Health Ministry, were sanctioned to store and sell e-cigarettes. Its deputy director-general, Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, said pharmacies planning on selling e-cigarettes must first get the ministry’s clearance. Under existing regulations, only the two are licensed by the ministry and regulated under the Poisons Act 1952. Dr Lokman dashed all hopes of vape sellers hoping to at least get licensed by the ministry to sell e-cigarettes. He said their interpretation of vapes differed from the ministry’s, which classified smoking devices that use or deliver nicotine as e-cigarettes. Only vapes using liquids that did not contain nicotine, he added, could be referred to as vapes. “(Vape) sellers will not be able to register unless they are pharmacists or they run pharmaceutical stores. That is why we don’t raid registered and licensed pharmacies,” he told the New Straits Times. “Nobody, who is not licensed to sell nicotinated products, as stipulated under the act, can sell them. So, there is no issue of giving a deadline for them to get licensed or registered to sell nicotinated vaping liquids,” he said, adding that those trading in “e-liquids” or “vape juice” containing nicotine had been doing it illegally. Asked if tobacco companies in the country would be allowed to sell e-cigarettes any time soon, Dr Lokman did not hesitate in answering “no”. “Tobacco companies are not pharmacists  and, under the Poisons Act 1952, they cannot be allowed to do so.” The ministry has been monitoring the use of e-cigarettes, the term widely used for electronic cigarettes, whose users are now estimated to be about one million. It has also held discussions with agencies to better regulate the use of such devices. The ministry had, last month, at a cabinet meeting failed in its bid to issue a blanket ban on e-cigarettes. Immediately after, the ministry was told to introduce stricter regulations and safeguards in protecting public health. In a swift response, enforcers from the ministry had, from Thursday, been raiding premises selling e-cigarettes and seizing nicotinated e-liquids. This created an uproar among brewers, resellers and users of the liquids. Many sellers took to social media to complain about their losses, with some claiming that they were fined RM500 for each bottle of nicotinated vape liquid they were selling.

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