IN FOCUS: Amid rising threat of drug-laced vapes, Indonesia’s proposed ban on e-cigarettes stirs debate
IN FOCUS: Amid rising threat of drug-laced vapes, Indonesia’s proposed ban on e-cigarettes stirs debate
With seizures of drug-laced vapes rising, anti-narcotics officials are pushing for a ban on e-cigarettes and arguing that Indonesia remains behind many of its neighbours in regulating them.
JAKARTA: At first glance, there was nothing suspicious about the vape cartridge Ichsan’s friend wanted him to try.
It looked just like the countless electronic cigarette products sold openly and legally across Indonesia, sealed in a palm-sized jet-black aluminium pouch, with “Yakuza” boldly emblazoned across it.
The disposable cartridge, known among vapers as a pod, was even compatible with e-cigarette devices from well-known brands.
Curious, Ichsan took a puff of the blackcurrant-flavoured vape. Then another. And another.
“You just want to keep puffing on it until it’s finished,” Ichsan, not his real name, told CNA.
Within minutes, the 22-year-old began to feel intoxicated. His speech became slurred. It felt, he recalled, as though his tongue had been tied up. As the effects intensified, even walking became difficult.
What Ichsan was inhaling in November 2025 was not just nicotine, food dyes and artificial flavourings, normal ingredients in e-cigarettes.
He found out later from authorities who had seized and tested similarly named products that his vapes had been laced with etomidate, a fast-acting anaesthetic commonly used in hospitals to sedate patients for short medical procedures.
In recent years, the substance has emerged as a popular recreational drug across parts of Asia, particularly when mixed into vape liquids.
In Indonesia, some users call such liquids “pod geter”, which means “trembling pods”.
Etomidate is only one of a growing number of substances finding their way into e-cigarette cartridges and liquids. Aside from the anaesthetic, authorities in Indonesia have also encountered vape liquids containing synthetic cannabinoids, methamphetamine derivatives and other psychoactive substances.
“Vaping has become a major trend in Indonesia with a very large number of users. That creates an opportunity for criminals to introduce other substances, including narcotics, into the liquids used in these devices,” Roy Hardi Siahaan, acting deputy of enforcement at the Indonesian National Narcotics Agency (BNN), told CNA.
In 2025 - the first year Indonesian authorities began separately tracking drug-laced vape liquids - the agency seized 43kg of the illicit substances through dozens of arrests and raids nationwide.
That figure was surpassed within the first four months of 2026. As of April, BNN officers have confiscated 45kg of drug-laced vape liquids with an estimated street value of US$7.5 million.
Authorities say narcotics have been consumed through vape devices since at least the 2010s. However, prior to 2025, law enforcement agencies focused on tracking the drugs themselves rather than the methods used to consume them.
The growing prevalence of drug-laced vapes, the difficulties involved in detecting them and concerns that they could become a gateway for a wider range of illicit substances are among the reasons BNN is proposing a blanket ban on all e-cigarettes in Indonesia.
The National Narcotics Agency proposed a ban in April, though no details were provided on how such a ban would be incorporated into Indonesia’s laws.
Indonesia “must not be another country’s trash bin” for illicit substances, BNN chief Suyudi Ario Seto said in February, particularly as neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Singapore have been imposing nationwide bans on all e-cigarette products.
Experts say vaping appeals to both first-time users and long-time smokers because of its pleasant flavours and aromas, as well as a perception that it is less harmful than conventional cigarettes.
However, the proposal has sparked some pushback from retailers and industry associations, triggering debate across the country.
“With their LED displays and USB chargers, some people see vaping as this new and modern way to smoke,” Adhi Wibowo Nurhidayat, an addiction psychiatrist from Jakarta’s Tria Dipa Hospital, told CNA.
“That can create a false sense of safety, even when the device contains highly addictive or dangerous substances.”
According to the World Health Organization, there were more than 6 million e-cigarette smokers in Indonesia as of 2021, around 3 per cent of the country’s population.
Roy of BNN said e-cigarettes’ popularity among Indonesians created the perfect cover for drug traffickers looking to disguise their illicit substances as consumer products that are compact and easy to transport.
“You wouldn’t know that they are drugs if you don’t test them in a lab,” the one-star police general said.
MORE DAMAGING EFFECTS
Evan, not his real name, has struggled with drug addiction since his mid-teens and has been arrested three times for drug-related offences.
He was just 17 when he was first caught with cannabis in 2013. Because it was his first offence, he was released with a warning.
Nearly a decade later, in 2022, he was arrested again, this time for possessing a small amount of methamphetamine. He avoided jail, with a court ordering him to undergo six months of mandatory rehabilitation instead.
But shortly after completing the programme, Evan discovered what he thought was a more convenient and discreet way to continue using drugs: e-cigarettes laced with synthetic cannabinoids.
“The vape tasted like strawberry but had the effects of cannabis,” the audio engineer told CNA.
With a vape, Evan said, he looked no different from millions of other Indonesians who use e-cigarettes.
“I smoked it at work. I smoked it on my motorbike while waiting at traffic lights. I even smoked it in front of my parents. Nobody suspected that I was using drugs,” he said.
Evan was arrested for the third time in September for trying to purchase narcotics from a drug dealer.
The dealer got caught for another case, and when police ran through the