SINGAPORE: Adults who involve young people or vulnerable persons in smuggling or supplying Kpods will be jailed for up to 20 years and given up to 15 strokes of the cane.
And any adult who has a Kpod but does not try to prevent a young person from using it can be jailed for up to 10 years.
These are some of the new anti-vaping laws passed on Friday (March 6), which are expected to come into force from May 1.
The new Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act was amended via the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) (Amendment) and Other Matters Bill.
Previously called the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act, the renamed Act strengthens enforcement against vaping and Kpods, which are vapes laced with the anaesthetic agent etomidate.
Under the new laws, entertainment venues such as clubs and bars must stop patrons from vaping and require them to discard their devices. These places can eject such patrons from their premises.
Those driving into Singapore and found with vapes in their vehicles can also no longer claim they did not know the devices were there to avoid legal responsibility.
Instead, the onus is on them to prove that they did not know about the devices.
Penalties for vape offences have been raised significantly under the Act, to five times for users, 20 times for sellers and 30 times for smugglers.
This means vape users face fines of up to S$10,000, while sellers can be handed fines of up to $200,000 and six years’ jail.
Smugglers can be fined up to $300,000 and jailed for nine years.
Currently, vape users face a maximum fine of $2,000, while distributors, importers and sellers of vapes and their components face jail time of up to six months and a fine of up to $10,000.
Vaping was banned in Singapore in 2018.
But for years, many people vaped in public with recent reports of Kpod users behaving like “zombies”, suffering from seizures and psychotic episodes.
This led to The Straits Times launching its anti-vaping campaign, Vaping: The Invisible Crisis, on July 13, 2025, to raise awareness of the scourge.
ST highlighted how there was no dedicated 24-hour helpline to report vaping offences, with the Health Sciences Authority’s (HSA) Tobacco Regulation Branch line only operating during office hours on weekdays.
A week later, on July 20, 2025, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said the authorities were working to list etomidate under the Misuse of Drugs Act after one in three confiscated vapes was found to be a Kpod.
A day later, HSA extended the operating hours for its hotline and uploaded an online reporting form for vapes.
In his National Day Rally speech on Aug 17, 2025, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said vaping would be treated as a drug issue.
Etomidate was temporarily listed under the Misuse of Drugs Act as a Class C drug from Sept 1, 2025, with tougher penalties imposed.
In his opening speech on the Bill, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Health, said the temporary measures were not ideal, but the authorities made it work.
In the six months from Sept 1, 2025, to Feb 28, 2026, 5,170 people were caught for vaping offences, and 593 of them were Kpod users.
Of those placed on rehabilitation, 42 defaulted, with one of them jailed, said Dr Koh.
The others are expected to be charged.
He added that 70 offenders have completed their rehabilitation programmes, but four of them, all youth, have reoffended.
Separately, over 110 people came forward to seek help to quit Kpods in the same six-month period.
Dr Koh said: “These past six months have been critical, not just for enforcement but also to consolidate lessons from our enforcement experience and (to) review our laws.
“We are now ready to put in place a new law which will not only prohibit vaporisers, but also allow for enforcement against the abuse of etomidate and potentially other psychoactive substances through such delivery devices in the future.”
The temporary listing of etomidate as a Class C drug was supposed to end on Feb 28, but was extended till April 30 to allow for the new laws to be put in place.
The new Act lists etomidate and its analogues under a new category of specified psychoactive substances (SPS). The penalties for offences involving such substances are similar to existing drug laws.
The Act allows HSA to issue rehabilitation orders to those believed to have consumed an SPS.
And those caught consuming such substances repeatedly can be sent to a Drug Rehabilitation Centre.
Offenders can be ordered to undergo urine and hair tests.
The new Act also expands the definition of tobacco products to include nicotine analogues, which are compounds that have effects similar to nicotine.
This deals with the tobacco industry introducing new products to circumvent tobacco control regulations.
Dr Koh said there have been several cases of illegal vape operations in warehouses and storage units, with the largest seizure exceeding 400,000 vapes and components worth over $5 million.
To deal with this, a new offence was introduced to put the onus on owners and occupiers to prevent others, like their tenants, from storing prohibited products on their properties.
If they don’t do so, they face jail time of up to three years and a $100,000 fine for a first offence, and double for a repeat offence.
Dr Koh said to disrupt the supply chain, HSA has been working with the Online Criminal Harms Act Office to block vape websites.
So far, over 10,000 online ads have been removed since 2024, and 27 websites have been blocked since September 2025.
During the debate on the Bill, several MPs asked for clarity in enforcement and detection efforts against vapes, with Dr Choo Pei Ling (Chua Chu Kang GRC) describing vaping as a public safety issue.
WP MPs He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) and Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) asked for stricter tobacco laws to curb smoking, proposing a cohort ban.
Dr Koh said the Ministry of Health will continue to work with the relevant ministries and agencies to deal with these issues.
He said: “The fact is that firm enforcement alone will never eliminate vaping. However, a strong deterrence posture remains essential if we are serious about reducing the harm it can cause to our people.
“Vaping has not yet become deeply entrenched in Singapore, and this gives us a critical window to act decisively.” - The Straits Times/ANN
