Mexico City, 13.03.2024. – Hundreds of vapers protested in front of Mexico’s Congress of the Union to call for an end to the ban on vaping and a risk-based regulation in a demonstration organised by the World Vapers’ Alliance and All Vape Mexico.

The protesters demanded an end to the ban on the sale of vaping products – in force in the country since May 2020 – and a halt to the constitutional reform proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that aims to elevate the ban to the Constitution. They also called for the approval of a risk-based regulation that allowed adult smokers access to vape products to quit smoking.

Alberto Gómez Hernández, policy manager of the World Vapers’ Alliance, commented:

“The ban was introduced in order to prevent underage vaping, however, minors now have full access to potentially dangerous products on the black market. At the same time, smokers who want to quit smoking have difficulty finding safe vaping products. The ban has clearly been a failure and must be reversed as soon as possible. Legislation cannot be based on whim or ideology, it must be based on scientific evidence and the experience of other countries that have had good results.”

Despite the ban, products can be easily obtained both on the informal market from underground vape shops and on the black market controlled by organised crime groups. Unregulated, however, vapers now lack quality and safety controls, making them potentially dangerous.

Deputy Sergio Barrera commented:

“It is very unfortunate that the federal government thought that the ban would prevent many young people from having access to vaping and does not give people who want to quit smoking the opportunity to use this option. We need to have clear rules. We need to know who can produce it, who can distribute it and who can consume it, and that is why we are pushing for regulation.”

Smoking causes more than 40,000 deaths a year in Mexico, where there are still almost 15 million smokers.

All Vape México spokesperson Antonio Toscano commented:

“The president sees a problem where there is actually a solution to smoking. His prohibitionist stance unprotects adult users, who are forced to buy black market products, where there are no quality controls, let alone controls on sales to minors. Prohibition is a danger to public health; good regulation could benefit public health enormously and save millions of lives.”