Health Minister: E-cigarettes as dangerous as conventional cigarettes

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has stressed that e-cigarettes are not a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes, as they potentially increase the risk of non-communicable diseases while opening avenues for narcotics abuse, particularly among children and adolescents. The Minister made the statement whilst speaking at the 2026 International Anti-Narcotics Day National Seminar themed ‘Governance of E-Cigarette Circulation: Dangers, Synergy, Supervision, and Narcotics Prevention in E-Cigarettes’. Speaking in Jakarta on Tuesday, the Minister explained that one of the government’s primary mandates in the health sector is to increase the population’s life expectancy whilst extending healthy life years. ‘Our target is not only to make people live longer, but also to live healthier. Therefore, we must control the main risk factors causing disease, one of which is smoking,’ said the Minister. He reminded that stroke, heart disease, and cancer remain the biggest causes of death in Indonesia. These three diseases have a strong link to smoking habits. He added that several countries have even banned the circulation of e-cigarettes as a public health protection measure. Beyond health risks, e-cigarettes are also increasingly drawing attention because they can be misused as a medium for narcotics consumption. This condition, according to him, is dangerous, especially because these devices are highly popular among younger age groups. To strengthen public protection, the Ministry of Health continues to formulate and implement various policies to control tobacco and electronic cigarette products. On the same occasion, Head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Police Commissioner General Suyudi Ario Seto stated that the misuse of e-cigarettes for narcotics consumption is a new threat that must be anticipated collectively. According to him, the increasing use of e-cigarettes among teenagers, coupled with the ease of modifying liquids with various psychoactive substances, poses a serious challenge to narcotics prevention efforts in Indonesia. He stressed that supervision of e-cigarette circulation cannot be carried out partially, but requires cross-sector collaboration between the government, law enforcement officials, health workers, academics, business actors, and the community.