News Forum - Thai government “E-Cigarettes won’t be legalised in Thailand”

[Thaiger]

The Minister of Public Health, Anutin Charnvirakul, insists that the government won’t legalise e-cigarettes any time soon. He accepted that the current laws couldn’t control the spread or popularity of e-cigarettes at this time, but he said he had already assigned the National Tobacco Control Committee to work on the laws and revise them to control the use and sale of e-cigarette products more effectively. On April 24, Anutin announced during the meeting with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation that the electric cigarette was very popular among Thai teenagers, and many departments tried to legalise it. “I would never support […]

The story Thai government “E-Cigarettes won’t be legalised in Thailand” as seen on Thaiger News.

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[TheDirtyDurian]

Think the key thing in that article was, "Thai farmers will lose income!"

E-cigs are not safe, but they're far less harmful then regular ciggies. No tar and no carbon monoxide, the two most dangerous things in regular smoke, and they also don't contain the thousands of other chemicals present in regular smoke. 

Presuming the juices and pens used are regulated etc that is ....

[Guevara]

7 minutes ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

Think the key thing in that article was, "Thai farmers will lose income!"

E-cigs are not safe, but they're far less harmful then regular ciggies. No tar and no carbon monoxide, the two most dangerous things in regular smoke, and they also don't contain the thousands of other chemicals present in regular smoke. 

Presuming the juices and pens used are regulated etc that is ....

I have a friend who owns a vape shop. Recently he'd received his order of the fluids/oils used and thought something wasn't quite right. Further examination showed they were counterfeit. Best not say where they were manufactured. Goodness knows what was in them but it's now in the hands of Trading Standards.

[Fanta]

Next up, criminalizing methadone for recovering heroin addicts /s 

[Shade_Wilder]

I was a long-term Smoker who quit, so I do have a certain sympathy for those addicted as I was.

That said, vaping is simply another Nicotine Injection device; just bite the proverbial bullet and quit. There is lots of help out there, your loved ones will certainly do all they can for you, and you'll just feel better all around.

Something 'Less Bad' than cigarettes still isn't good, and those who sell you a product which is addictive are not looking out for your best interests.

If I can quit, then literally anyone can quit.

Give it a try.

[HolyCowCm]

 

Should be up to the individual consumer person being of proper age, not the regime dinosaurs or bozo moonlighting as a medical professional. This is more about monopoly and money and control rather than the evils of nicotine. I will say one thing positive for vaping, it doesn't smell, and it can come in a certain fluid, but that is way over the .2%. Ok 2 positive things.

One not so good thing is that the youngsters will tend to gravitate towards it.

 

[Fanta]

11 minutes ago, HolyCowCm said:

I will say one thing positive for vaping, it doesn't smell, and it can come in a certain fluid, but that is way over the .2%.

You learn something every day. 

[Stevejm]

2 hours ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

Think the key thing in that article was, "Thai farmers will lose income!"

E-cigs are not safe, but they're far less harmful then regular ciggies. No tar and no carbon monoxide, the two most dangerous things in regular smoke, and they also don't contain the thousands of other chemicals present in regular smoke. 

Presuming the juices and pens used are regulated etc that is ....

I totally agree with everything that you say. I don’t think there is any real intent to reduce smoking here anyway. Cigarettes are still ridiculously cheap here. If they wanted to help people quit they could provide e cigs as a prescription drug or available to over 20s like alcohol which would at least make it more difficult for kids to get hold of if that is the concern. Another approach could be to move to heated tobacco which some companies have done in other countries particularly in Japan. Heated tobacco products are classed as e cigarettes in Thailand therefore are illegal. Because heated tobacco products still use tobacco leaf there would still be a market for growers to sell their crops 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Stevejm

[Stevejm]

1 hour ago, Fanta said:

You learn something every day. 

Depends on the type but many actually stink horribly or were you being sarcastic?

[Stevejm]

2 hours ago, Shade_Wilder said:

I was a long-term Smoker who quit, so I do have a certain sympathy for those addicted as I was.

That said, vaping is simply another Nicotine Injection device; just bite the proverbial bullet and quit. There is lots of help out there, your loved ones will certainly do all they can for you, and you'll just feel better all around.

Something 'Less Bad' than cigarettes still isn't good, and those who sell you a product which is addictive are not looking out for your best interests.

If I can quit, then literally anyone can quit.

Give it a try.

Congratulations on quitting but consider people that aren’t as strong willed as you and/ or don’t have much support to quit at home. You don’t necessarily get addicted or continue to be addicted to nicotine if you use e cigarettes to help you quit in the same way that people who use nicotine gum to help them quit don’t necessarily continue to use it long term. I think the benefits of quitting smoking are so great that any smokers who want to quit should be able to access any available aids to quitting without breaking the law and without having to buy substandard products from the market 

[Noble_Design]

E-cigarettes won't be legalized until they figured out how to tax them.

[Stevejm]

14 minutes ago, Noble_Design said:

E-cigarettes won't be legalized until they figured out how to tax them.

That was the original reason for banning them if I remember correctly. But it should be a fairly easy problem to solve 

[HolyCowCm]

30 minutes ago, Stevejm said:

Depends on the type but many actually stink horribly or were you being sarcastic?

The ones I have tried and came across do not smell or didn't smell and I guess are very nice if you do smoke. As for the other thing, it is related to something medical that goes over the .2% legal limit here. Now this one does create some sort of aroma but not something that lingers and by all means not something that I think smells or stinks..

[Stevejm]

10 minutes ago, HolyCowCm said:

The ones I have tried and came across do not smell or didn't smell and I guess are very nice if you do smoke. As for the other thing, it is related to something medical that goes over the .2% legal limit here. Now this one does create some sort of aroma but not something that lingers and by all means not something that I think smells or stinks..

When I used to go to the smoking area at my last job some of the guys were using high volume vaporizers with flavoured juices and they used to emit huge clouds of weird smelling vapor. I think the smell is related more to the flavor than the nicotine content.  

[Noble_Design]

11 minutes ago, Stevejm said:

That was the original reason for banning them if I remember correctly. But it should be a fairly easy problem to solve 

I don't think it's that easy, unlike cigarettes which can only be manufactured through big investments hence why they are monopolized by just a few big players, there are hundreds of manufacturers of e-cigarettes especially from China and they can be smuggled in quite easily. Unlike real cigarettes dogs can't be trained to detect them hidden among the tonnes of electronic products brought in by containers. They are also less sensitive to the environment and not as perishable as cigarettes. Things that are easier to smuggle are harder to tax.

And let's talk about the liquids or the juices almost anyone can make them at home, there is no need for investments in expensive machineries. These liquids are made primarily of glycerol/ glycerin which is the same liquid you find in smoke machines and then mixed in with whatever flavors they want. Kinda like making moonshine at home which is very hard to regulate and tax

[HolyCowCm]

15 minutes ago, Stevejm said:

When I used to go to the smoking area at my last job some of the guys were using high volume vaporizers with flavoured juices and they used to emit huge clouds of weird smelling vapor. I think the smell is related more to the flavor than the nicotine content.  

I think that is correct. No flavor and pretty much nothing so much as far as I know that one would be disturnbed by or notice. My Thai facory owner friend in Bangkok has some flavors and they are not bothersome at all in my opinion. I am not well eduated on high volume vapes to lower volume vapes so do not know th slightest in it at al, but only what i have come acroos here and it is surprisingly pretty odorless. Now the other one not nicotine maybe a little different, but in my opinion that is a good smell.

[Stevejm]

7 minutes ago, Noble_Design said:

I don't think it's that easy, unlike cigarettes which can only be manufactured through big investments hence why they are monopolized by just a few big players, there are hundreds of manufacturers of e-cigarettes especially from China and they can be smuggled in quite easily. Unlike real cigarettes dogs can't be trained to detect them hidden among the tonnes of electronic products brought in by containers. They are also less sensitive to the environment and not as perishable as cigarettes. Things that are easier to smuggle are harder to tax.

And let's talk about the liquids or the juices almost anyone can make them at home, there is no need for investments in expensive machineries. These liquids are made primarily of glycerol/ glycerin which is the same liquid you find in smoke machines and then mixed in with whatever flavors they want. Kinda like making moonshine at home which is very hard to regulate and tax

I take your point but if standards were set for manufacture of liquids etc as in UK and legal products imported and taxed it would be an improvement on the current system. That would probably mean that unregulated products would probably be available on the grey market which is not ideal but at least people who wanted to use them to help stop smoking would have a legal channel to buy safe products

[Grumpish]

The clue is in the article - 

"The Vice President of the National Tobacco Control Committee, Surachate Satitniramai, explained that e-cigarettes were made from synthetic nicotine, and that also affected tobacco farming in Thailand.

The farmers would be losing income.”

Someone is protecting their stake in the Thai tobacco industry.

 

[Stevejm]

13 minutes ago, HolyCowCm said:

I think that is correct. No flavor and pretty much nothing so much as far as I know that one would be disturnbed by or notice. My Thai facory owner friend in Bangkok has some flavors and they are not bothersome at all in my opinion. I am not well eduated on high volume vapes to lower volume vapes so do not know th slightest in it at al, but only what i have come acroos here and it is surprisingly pretty odorless. Now the other one not nicotine maybe a little different, but in my opinion that is a good smell.

I think there are a lot of different types of e cigarettes and fluids and the annoyance factor to other people depends a lot on the type of device and flavor used. For example I have used self contained disposable e cigs in the past which were so unnoticeable that I have used them in office bathrooms and on aircraft without being noticed. FYI weird flavored juices are often available in nicotine and non nicotine varieties.

[WilliamG]

3 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Should be up to the individual consumer person being of proper age, not the regime dinosaurs or bozo moonlighting as a medical professional. This is more about monopoly and money and control rather than the evils of nicotine. I will say one thing positive for vaping, it doesn't smell, and it can come in a certain fluid, but that is way over the .2%. Ok 2 positive things.

One not so good thing is that the youngsters will tend to gravitate towards it.

Nicotine vape smells disgusting, and users blow out lots more smoke than a normal ciggie smoker would.

What's this 0.2% you quote? This is NOT about cannabis.

[HolyCowCm]

1 hour ago, WilliamG said:

Nicotine vape smells disgusting, and users blow out lots more smoke than a normal ciggie smoker would.

What's this 0.2% you quote? This is NOT about cannabis.

But it is about vaping and that is part of the vaping game if you didn't know it.

[WilliamG]

37 minutes ago, HolyCowCm said:

But it is about vaping and that is part of the vaping game if you didn't know it.

Yes I agree. So what is the 0.2% you quoted please.

[HolyCowCm]

Just now, WilliamG said:

Yes I agree. So what is the 0.2% you quoted please.

Legal limit so of the said amount allowed of the component of T  H  C by weight. So it is irrelevant here so to speak, but is part of the vaping world and probably aorund somewhere. You probably get more whacked on the nicotine than any .2%.

[resetamy]

LOL seriously..."the farmers will be losing income". Unreal....Thailand building that bridge to the 19th century...

Really preferred the illegal vapers in the bars blowing clouds vs breathing in toxic cig smoke. In the US you cant just smoke in people's faces, in Thailand its perfectly acceptable to smoke a cig next to a non-smoker eating a meal. Why is vaping so demonized in this society?

[HolyCowCm]

10 hours ago, resetamy said:

LOL seriously..."the farmers will be losing income". Unreal....Thailand building that bridge to the 19th century...

Really preferred the illegal vapers in the bars blowing clouds vs breathing in toxic cig smoke. In the US you cant just smoke in people's faces, in Thailand its perfectly acceptable to smoke a cig next to a non-smoker eating a meal. Why is vaping so demonized in this society?

Well someone will be losing some income and upfront and through the back door but I don't really think much or at all. But I hardly think it will be big time on the Thai farmers as this product can just be exported. And I am no expert, but isn't the oil for vape procurred from tabacoo leaves? Am I missing something? 

All about the money and control and has nothing to do with the farmers.