JAKARTA (Jakarta Post/ANN): The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has urged regulators to outlaw the distribution of e-cigarettes and vaporizers following the recent finding of illegal substances contained in the electronic devices.
Of the total of 341 e-cigarette liquid samples tested over the past few months, at least 11 were found to contain synthetic cannabinoids, or chemical compounds that are usually found in cannabis, according to BNN head Comr. Gen. Suyudi Ario Seto.
The agency also found 23 samples to contain etomidate and one other was laced with methamphetamine. “These findings indicate that vaping liquids have been injected with class-I and II narcotics, which have extraordinarily damaging effects on the central nervous system,” Suyudi said at a discussion held by the narcotics agency in Jakarta on Wednesday.
According to regulations, class-1 narcotics are prohibited for wide public consumption and can only be used for science and research purposes because of their very high likelihood to cause addiction.
Meanwhile, class-2 narcotics can be used as last-resort drugs under heavy supervision from a physician because of their addictive properties.
At a raid on a clandestine narcotics laboratory at an apartment in South Jakarta on Jan. 16, BNN officers found 5 liters of etomidate liquid in a wine bottle suspected to be injected into vaping liquid cartridges.
Categorized as a class-II narcotic, etomidate is an anesthetic drug typically administered intravenously for short medical procedures and has the same effect as ketamine, another anesthetic that has some dissociative and psychedelic effects. Morning Brief Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning.
“The more dangerous thing is dealers are injecting narcotics and other substances into new, unopened vape liquids,” said the three-star police general.
He went on to say that the narcotics agency has identified 175 new psychotic substances (NPS) in Indonesia in recent years of a total of 1,386 types circulating worldwide.
Some, like etomidate, were found in drug-laced vaping liquids. Indonesia has seen a rise in e-cigarette users in the past decade. The 2021 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), issued by the Health Ministry and World Health Organization (WHO), revealed 6.2 million adults, or 3 percent of the overall adults in the country, use electronic cigarettes, higher than the 0.3 percent prevalence found in 2011.
Electronic cigarettes are usually used as an alternative to their traditional counterparts for people who want to quit smoking, despite the insufficient medical evidence, Suyudi said.
He went on to say that Indonesia should look up to several neighboring countries that have implemented prohibitions of e-cigarettes citing drug law enforcement, including Singapore, Thailand and the Maldives.
“Indonesia must not be another countries’ ‘trash bin’,” said Suyudi. “Although the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency [BPOM] has [...] ordered an expanded surveillance against e-cigarettes, it won’t be sufficient.”
Speaking at Wednesday’s discussion, pulmonologist Agus Dwi Susanto concurred. Aside from the risk of substance abuse, e-cigarettes have never been medically proven effective as an alternative to cease conventional cigarette consumption, he argued. “Both cigarettes and vape contain nicotine, and both can contain carcinogens,” Agus said.
“In conventional cigarettes, carcinogens are in the tar. Meanwhile, the substance is detected in the liquid and dissolved metal material during the combustion of e-cigarettes.”
Some countries are already imposing full bans on vaping, while others are still considering pushing the same policy on e-cigarettes. Malaysia, for example, is aiming to prohibit vaping by mid-2026.
While e-cigarettes are currently not illegal in Indonesia, Agus said the government needs to strictly regulate the concentration of substances in the liquid that potentially causes addiction and other medical hazards.
“The best decision is to ban its distribution altogether,” Agus said. “But if we can’t, we need to at least regulate it.” -- Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
