MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexican lower house lawmakers yesterday overwhelmingly passed a proposal to alter the constitution to include a ban on e-cigarettes and vaping devices as well as a crackdown on synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.
Former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who sent the proposal to Congress before leaving office this year, had argued that smoking devices were damaging public health, with children particularly susceptible to getting hooked.
Lopez Obrador had already banned such devices through a presidential decree, though they remain widely available for purchase. Millions of Mexicans, meanwhile, smoke traditional cigarettes, which remain legal.
The reform passed by the legislature on Tuesday also sanctions “production, distribution and sale of toxic substances, chemical precursors, the illicit use of fentanyl and other non-authorized synthetic drugs.”
Fentanyl, while approved for some use medically, is also by and large banned in Mexico.
