In this episode of GFN News, we break down Mexico’s strict new regulations on vaping, including bans on marketing, sales, and imports—and the possibility of prison sentences for violations. Joined by Juan José Cirión Lee, president of Mexico y el Mundo Vapeando, the discussion explores what the law actually allows, what remains unclear, and how these changes could impact consumers and public health. Is vaping truly illegal in Mexico, or is it still a legal gray area? Watch to understand the real implications of this controversial policy shift.
Transcription:
00:00 - 01:25
[Joanna Junak]
Hello and welcome! I'm Joanna Junak and this is GFN News on GFN.TV. At the beginning of this year, Mexico introduced further regulations banning the marketing, sale and importation of electronic vaping devices. Those who break the rules can face prison and high fines. However, the legislation does not provide for penalties related to possession for personal use. This raises important questions. What is permitted and what is prohibited under the new law? And what impact do these changes have on public health and consumers? Juan José Cirión Lee, a law professor and human rights expert specializing in harm reduction, working on safer nicotine policies in Latin America, is with us today to shed more light on the situation in Mexico. Hello Juan José, thank you for joining us today. Let's start with how the newly introduced regulations are affecting consumers.
01:27 - 04:22
[Juan José Cirión Lee]
know the truth is that the mexican market has been always on a gray area so it's been banned since i don't know maybe 15 years the problem is that right now the ban instead of being administrative uh prohibition is a criminal uh law right now so um When you were selling vapes in the past, you could get a fine, you could get raided in your store, but right now you can go to jail from one to eight years. So that's what is different right now. Still, the market has been in a very, I don't know how to say gray area because here in Mexico, we have some kind of trial where you go to a judge claiming that your human rights have been violated. And if you get that resolution in your favor, then some law is not going to be applied to you. So that's what has been happened here in Mexico. A lot of stores are selling with these kind of trials. But right now, all those trials have been canceled. And right now we're going to start again seeing if with trials we can get some extent of the law to sell. The problem is that the traditional... entrepreneurs who were selling vapes right now are scared to sell these devices because of the criminal prohibition. So it's different to get a fine than getting to jail. So right now, what we think is that the cartels are going to take over the business. So that is what is going to be different. Still, you can find vapes in everywhere, you know, on a black market. And I think that for the consumer, this is not going to be a big change. but still we have to see what is going to happen. You know, the thing is that we don't know how this law is going to be enforced. So you've been seeing, for example, in India or Argentina or Brazil, that there are bans, but still the law is not enforced. So you can buy vapes, whatever you want. We are not sure if this is going to happen to Mexico. What we think is that that is going to happen to Mexico because we are not a country where the the the rule of law is in effect all the time so we will see.
04:22 - 04:33
[Joanna Junak]
04:33
04:22 - 05:57
[Juan José Cirión Lee]
you know the problem is that if you don't have any ruling uh any any any you know uh rules about vaping what you can buy has not any kind of uh quality control but that's what has been happening here in mexico and still what we know is that nobody has died or had a big illness of vaping in mexico that's what our authorities has been told us and uh We think that is because the vapes made by big companies are very affordable. So it's not a good business to try to recycle or to use vapes when you can find very cheap vapes, new vapes made in China. We have to see because, you know, the thing with Ivali, what happened in the U.S., come from a black market. And we will need to see what is going to happen in Mexico. Still, we think that we hope that not a very big health issue is going to happen.
05:59 - 06:07
[Joanna Junak]
So is there any reliable information to help people understand the potential risks of vaping, especially with black market products?
06:09 - 08:01
[Juan José Cirión Lee]
What you're seeing is very complicated in Mexico because the ban is supported by government propaganda. They always say that it harms more than regular cigarettes. All the things that you've heard around the world, that you get water in your lungs, fungus in your lungs. So it's very difficult for the people to be sure what are the real risks of using vaping products. We cannot rely on the government. We have to go, you know, to make searches on internet to try to check reliable sources to be sure what is happening with vaping. In Mexico, that's very difficult. If you talk to anyone who doesn't vape, they are really sure that they are more dangerous than regular cigarettes, that they cause a lot of diseases. But the good thing is that we have... almost 3 million people vaping in Mexico. And in general, the consumers are very well informed. The problem is that all that people who could be using reduced risk products, the people who are smoking right now, they are not aware of the harm reduction related to these kind of products. So if they knew, maybe there would be a lot more vaping users in Mexico.