Outside a convenience store in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, a group of middle school students huddled together to share several flavors of e-cigarettes they had bought.

Kids aged 15 and 16 vape in the open air while exchanging ideas about the flavors they've tried.

Syed Ikhmal Syed Ramadani, 15, told The Straits Times on Wednesday: "I've always wanted to try smoking, but I was afraid my parents would tell it from the smell. But e-cigarettes smell good. My parents won't know, we are now open for purchase.

The teens took advantage of a recent legal loophole in Malaysia that allowed vaping products to be freely sold to and consumed by minors following a controversial move by the government.

Liquid and gel nicotine, the main ingredient in e-cigarettes and vaporizers, were removed from the list of scheduled poisons from April and the government is now taxing vaping products and vaping.

The poisons board opposed the delisting, but Health Minister Zaliham Mustafa, exercising her ministerial powers, overturned it.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told parliament on Tuesday that the government would impose a tax on products containing nicotine to prevent the substance from being widely distributed at low prices.

He said his government was committed to presenting a tobacco and vaping control bill in May.

"Taking quite extreme measures by banning e-cigarettes, nicotine or cigarettes is very extreme and cannot be done by any country in the world. Even with various campaigns, many people still choose to smoke," Datuk Seri Anwar told parliament.

"While we are running a campaign about the negative effects of smoking, we will also continue to implement this tax to prevent these substances from becoming widely available and cheap."

The upcoming Generation End Game (GEG) bill, formally known as the Tobacco Product Control and Smoking Act 2022, aims to ban the use, possession and sale of cigarettes and vaping products by those born after 2007.

But currently, products containing nicotine liquid and gel are free and unregulated for those under 18, sparking public outcry from health practitioners and parents.

In response to the news, the Johor state government said its 2016 ban on the sale of vaping products, including devices and liquids, remains in effect.

The Malaysian Tobacco Control Council (MCTC) said the government's move to remove the nicotine substance from the list of poisons will lead to more children starting to vape and potentially becoming addicted.

“The problem is, even though they (the government) introduced the (bill) in May, they’ve now opened up the field to a lot of new young people to actually start vaping nicotine. Nicotine is the fundamental driver.” MCTC Chairman M. Murallitharan told ST. “The longer you wait for GEG to go public, the more you actually poison the well.”

He said nicotine is classified as a highly addictive substance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and similar agencies in other countries.

Dr Murallitharan, medical director of the National Cancer Society Malaysia, said: "The idea of introducing someone to this addictive substance can make them addicted in the short term.

"We are deeply concerned about the public health impact of e-cigarettes and tobacco use, especially on children and youth," the Malaysian Health Alliance said in a statement on Tuesday. We support the GEG, and we support a complete ban on vaping. Strict regulations will bring Malaysia in line with increasingly prevalent international norms.

The coalition, comprising the Malaysian Society of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and 28 other organisations, is urging the government to delay imposing the tax and removing the nicotine substance from the Poisons List until the Tobacco Regulation and Control Bill is passed, debated and discussed. As part of the bill to determine the legal status of e-cigarettes in Malaysia.

"Once you become addicted to the substance, whether it's heroin or nicotine, you eventually continue to need and crave higher and higher doses of the substance, no matter where they're getting the nicotine from," Dr. Murallitharan said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaping is not safe for children, teens and young adults because nicotine is highly addictive and can impair brain development in teens up to age 20 Early to mid term.

Jurisdictions with partial or complete bans on vaping include Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, Canada and many states in the United States.

Disposable vaping devices typically cost between RM16.90 (S$5.10) and more than RM100 in Malaysia and contain up to 9,000 nicotine-containing cigarette butts.

ST's survey found that industry insiders wanted a price increase of 20% or 30%. But Dr Murallitharan said the price increase would not affect minors too much.

“I have secondary school students as patients, and they only need to spend RM5 to get 6,000 to 8,000 doses of the device together. As the price goes up, they may need to spend RM1 more,” he said.

However, Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, chairman of the Education Parents Action Group Malaysia, said a better approach is to maintain the status quo.

"E-cigarettes will eventually lead to smoking. If they (minors) even know about the exemption, they will be very tempted to disclose vaping ... because they think it will improve their self-image," she told ST.

Zainab Salim, a 47-year-old architect, echoed the sentiment: As a parent, my concern is for my child to prove that he has done nothing wrong when, in fact, e-cigarettes do pose some health risks.

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