They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
A good example of this would be the Ministry of Health’s ambitious Generation Endgame plan to ban the sale of tobacco and vape products to anyone born after 2007.
The proposed ban, while understandable, should be approached with caution given the prevalence of illicit cigarettes in the country.
History has shown time and again that Prohibition-era-like measures not only fail to meet their goals but end up having the opposite effect.
This includes fuelling the demand for unregulated and illegal products and services, and the syndicates behind them.
More worryingly, the fact that Generation Endgame includes vape products shows a willful ignorance of science and evidence-based strategies to help curb smoking.
Vaping has emerged as one of the more effective tools in tobacco harm reduction strategies. This is not a wild claim but a statement of fact supported by a growing number of international studies.
Let’s be clear. Vaping is not without risks, but it has been shown to be far less harmful than smoking and far more effective in helping smokers quit the habit.
Harm reduction strategies are not new to Malaysia. They have been proven to work with HIV infections.
In 2006, the government introduced the needle-syringe exchange programme and methadone replacement therapy.
According to International AIDS Society president Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, these harm reduction measures have prevented up to 39% or 13,317 new HIV infections in the country in a span of eight years between 2006 and 2013.
She estimates harm reduction programmes to decrease new HIV infections in Malaysia further by 87% and save RM209.5 million in health care costs from 2013 to 2023.
If we can see the value of harm reduction in HIV cases, why can’t we recognise the value of harm reduction where smoking is concerned?
We do not need to reinvent the wheel. The United Kingdom and New Zealand have already blazed the tobacco harm reduction trail.
Instead of going down the disastrous Prohibition path, the government should consider tobacco harm reduction strategies as an asset and start training healthcare professionals, particularly general practitioners on harm reduction to reach the masses and help smokers on their journey to kick the habit once and for all.
Dr Kumar Subaramaniam is a medical practitioner with a career spanning 25 years. He has worked extensively in the psychiatry department of various local hospitals and has a special interest in mental health. Over the years, Dr Kumar has provided patients with supportive counselling, particularly in wellness counselling, and has provided multiple public lectures on wellness.
