Teachers appeal to parents as schools grapple with increasingly deadly vape plague

A teachers' group has expressed concern over the attitude of some parents and guardians towards students' use of vape, saying teachers cannot handle the issue on their own amid concerns over safety on school grounds.

The National Union of Teaching Profession for Peninsular Malaysia (NUTP) said the latest incident had seen a Form Two student believed to be hallucinating after inhaling vape injured after falling from the school roof.

Its secretary-general Fouzi Saigon said teachers were struggling to keep students' use of vape in check, citing challenges such as the size of e-cigarettes which makes them easy to conceal, as well as the tendency of parents to defend their children even after they break school rules.

He said that in many cases, e-cigarettes would be confiscated and handed over to parents or guardians upon request, in line with a circular issued by the education ministry on the matter in 2015.

The circular also states that teachers, staff, parents, canteen operators, security guards, cleaners and any other individuals dealing with schools are prohibited from using vape or e-cigarettes on school grounds.

Teachers are required to meet with the parents or guardians of students who break this rule, to inform them of the infraction and ask for their cooperation in the matter. 

There is also paperwork to be done before the device is returned to the keeping of the parent or guardian in question.

"But in our experience, if we confiscate the vape from the student today, tomorrow a parent will come asking for its return," Fouzi said.

"The parent will say the device is actually theirs, and ask the teacher to give it back because it is new or expensive."

Regulation

MalaysiaNow previously reported concerns by some government doctors and pharmacists about an increase in adolescent patients suffering from hallucinations and lung problems due to the use of vape.

They said many students were influenced by their parents' use of vape which rendered counselling ineffective in controlling the habit.  

Fouzi also cited the perception that vape, unlike cigarettes, is harmless.

He said the concern was the effects of vaping on students, as the contents of vape liquid are unregulated.

He said supervision and early intervention on the part of parents could keep the problem in check as parents spend more time with their children than teachers.

A health ministry survey last year found that as many as 38,384 students had smoked, including 374 primary school students. The year before, 43,000 students were found to have smoked, including 341 at the primary school level.

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey meanwhile found that the use of e-cigarettes in Malaysia increased by some 600%, with 5.8% current users last year compared to just 0.8% in 2011.

The tobacco and vaping industry benefited from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's decision not to implement the generational end game (GEG), a law that bans the sale of cigarettes and vapes to those born from 2007 onwards in order to achieve a smoke-free generation by 2040.

The controversial decision by then health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa in July last year to exclude liquid and gel nicotine from the Poisons List only further complicated efforts to eradicate smoking by legalising the open sale of vape products to the public.

The government collected RM141.1 million in vape tax revenue, including RM58.55 million from nicotine-containing vape liquid products for the period from 2021 to 2024.

Anwar had previously stated that half of the vape tax revenue would be earmarked for the health ministry, a move seen to appease criticism that the government was trying to stop stricter anti-tobacco laws in the face of protests from the powerful tobacco lobby.

However, in July, public health pressure group Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy slammed Putrajaya's decision to keep the tax revenue in the Federal Consolidated Fund, despite the earlier promise to use it for health-related initiatives.

Bigger problems?

The education ministry previously said that it would address students' use of vape by going down to the ground and monitoring the matter.

Ayub Yaakob, senior vice-chairman of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation, said the use and sale of vape should be banned in Malaysia, especially given the availability of "magic mushroom" flavoured vape liquid which reportedly causes hallucinations and other negative effects.

"At least suspend its sale first and study the mechanism and policies regarding nicotine and vape," he said.

He added that Malaysia should follow the footsteps of Singapore, which banned vape in 2018.

He said the use of vape by youth could open the door to bigger problems including exposure to more serious drugs.

"If we want to allow the use and sale of e-cigarettes, make sure we are able to keep things under control because even children under the age of 18 can access these devices," he said.

"This is something that we must keep in mind."