Prabowo Orders Total Vape Ban if Studies Prove Greater Risks and Narcotics Link

President Prabowo Subianto has requested that a total ban on electronic cigarettes, or vapes, be implemented if a joint study proves they carry more risks and continue to serve as a gateway for new types of narcotics. “If that is the case, I order you not to hesitate to impose a total ban on vapes in Indonesia,” said Prabowo, in a speech read by Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Djamari Chaniago at the 2026 International Anti-Narcotics Day commemoration in Bogor Regency, West Java, on Thursday (23/7).

Prabowo stressed that the safety of the people is the highest law in the country, often expressed by the phrase salus populi suprema lex esto. Consequently, the President instructed the Head of the National Narcotics Agency, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Trade, the Minister of Law, the Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency, and the Director General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance to convene immediately. He stated that this step must be taken to formulate and strictly re-regulate the trade governance of electronic cigarettes in Indonesia. “Implement layered surveillance on its import and distribution channels,” he said.

Regarding narcotics prevention, Prabowo revealed that Indonesia’s challenges are becoming more severe because the development of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) is occurring very rapidly, unconventionally, and often emerges faster than the regulatory capacity to manage it. Various studies, he continued, also show that approximately 39.5 percent of electronic cigarette device users admit to having used liquids containing recreational drugs, with cannabis being the most widely used substance, followed by ecstasy (MDMA) and cocaine. “This method is chosen because it is considered more practical, difficult to detect, and mistakenly perceived as safer than other narcotics consumption methods,” the President said in his speech.

Prabowo explained that these various factors indicate electronic cigarettes have evolved into a new medium exploited by narcotics syndicates to distribute illicit substances covertly. Therefore, anticipatory steps are needed through strengthening regulations, increasing supervision, and comprehensive policy reviews to protect the public, especially the younger generation, from the threat of narcotics abuse. He asserted that if this threat is left unchecked, it will endanger the sustainability and continuity of human life, threaten the next generation, and jeopardise the successor movement of the Indonesian nation. “We must not allow our future to be destroyed by that smoke and toxic liquid,” Prabowo added.