The government should accept the court’s findings and immediately return liquid and gel nicotine used in vape and e-cigarette products to appropriate poison control regulations.
PETALING JAYA: The High Court ruling against the 2023 exemption of liquid nicotine should be viewed as an opportunity to strengthen Malaysia’s vape regulatory framework rather than a decision for the government to appeal, the Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS) said.
Its president, Professor Amrahi Buang said the government should accept the court’s findings and immediately return liquid and gel nicotine used in vape and e-cigarette products to appropriate poison control regulations.
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He said the ruling went beyond the legality of a single exemption order, highlighting the risks of weakening expert safeguards in the regulation of nicotine, which remains a dependence-forming substance.
“The court’s decision sends a clear signal that public health safeguards cannot simply be set aside for administrative convenience or fiscal objectives.
“From a healthcare perspective, nicotine remains a pharmacologically active and dependence-forming substance requiring appropriate regulatory oversight.
“It should not be treated as just another taxable consumer product,” he said in a statement.
The former chief pharmacist of Universiti Malaya Medical Centre said pharmacists had warned for almost two years that removing nicotine liquids from poison control would create a regulatory loophole.
He said the concern had become even more significant as vape products became increasingly accessible to younger consumers.
As such, he said the ruling should now be used to strengthen enforcement under the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, particularly against the sale and marketing of vape products to youths.
“With the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 now in force, Malaysia must not lose momentum.
“MPS calls for firm enforcement, stronger action against youth-targeted vape sales and marketing, wider access to smoking and vape cessation services, and meaningful involvement of healthcare professionals in future nicotine-control policies.
“The government should now take immediate steps to ensure that nicotine liquids and gels used in vape and e-cigarette products are placed back under appropriate poison control, where they rightfully belong,” Amrahi said.
MPS is a member organisation of the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control, one of the three NGOs involved in the judicial review, alongside the Malaysian Green Lung Association and Voice of the Children.
On May 15, the High Court ruled that the government acted unlawfully in March 2023 when it removed vape-related liquid and gel nicotine from the Poisons List.
The move, carried out by Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa during her tenure as health minister, allowed such products to be taxed and sold under a separate regulatory framework.
Datuk Zaliha Sulaiman ruled that the decision was irrational and had been made without proper consultation with the Poisons Board, which had unanimously opposed the proposed exemption.
The court also noted that the decision was “motivated primarily by economic reasons”, after the Finance Ministry confirmed that the declassification was intended to enable taxation of vape products.
The judge further stated that the exemption created a legal gap in regulating nicotine vape products for one year and seven months, until the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 came into force on Oct 1 last year.
She also ruled that consultation with the Poisons Board under the Poisons Act 1952 must be “conscious, meaningful, purposeful and effective”, and should not be treated as a formality after a decision had effectively already been made.
The judicial review was filed by the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control, the Malaysian Green Lung Association and Voice of the Children, with the Malaysian Medical Association appearing as amicus curiae (friend of the court).
