These vapers are disposable devices with integrated batteries that can last from 2,500 to 30,000 puffs.
Although vaping has been prohibited in Mexico since May 2022, it is sold in vending machines installed on public streets in the tourist area of Mazatlán.
The machines offer vapes in different flavors and prices ranging from 400 to 600 pesos each, and are located at strategic points throughout the tourist destination. Last Sunday, December 7, for example, one of these machines was seen operating in the tourist area known as Olas Altas, near the historic center of the so-called Pearl of the Pacific, the most important hotel destination in Sinaloa.
These dispensers are also located in the Golden Zone, where most of the hotels are situated, and outside the port’s bars. They can also be seen at gas stations in working-class neighborhoods of the city.
Vending machines offer a variety of vape brands, such as Iplay Max, Vhill, and Maskking Lux. These are disposable devices with integrated batteries that can last from 2,500 to 30,000 puffs, depending on the model, and come in flavors like raspberry, grape, mint, watermelon, and peach, among others.
The sale of vapes in Sinaloa has been linked to several acts of violence. In August of this year, three university students were kidnapped after leaving a bar in Mazatlán. Their families reported on social media that before being abducted, they had an altercation in the bar’s restroom with vape vendors who confronted them for using devices they hadn’t purchased there. Three days later, the young men reappeared alive, though beaten and tortured.
In December 2023, two more university students were beaten with a board, stripped naked, and forced to walk through the streets of Guasave, Sinaloa, carrying a sign with messages warning that the punishment was a consequence of selling e-cigarettes and that the same would happen to anyone who sold them. The young men walked naked, guarded by two hooded men who filmed and beat them, without any authorities intervening.
Vaping devices and e-cigarettes were banned by presidential decree in May 2022, and the Senate recently extended the ban to the entire production, manufacturing, trade, supply, advertising, and promotional chain. Furthermore, penalties of one to eight years in prison and fines of up to 226,000 pesos were established for those involved.
“The acquisition, preparation, preservation, production, manufacture, mixing, conditioning, packaging, transportation for commercial purposes, storage, import, export, trade, distribution, sale, and supply of electronic cigarettes, vapes, and other similar systems or devices are prohibited throughout the national territory,” reads the amendment to the General Health Law.
The activist group “Mexico and the World Vaping” accused the recent amendment to the General Health Law of fueling a black market for vapes controlled by organized crime.
“With the approved amendment, what we already see blatantly in the streets and public squares is formalized: the handover of the vape market to organized crime. This allows these gangs to expand the scope of their businesses and not limit themselves to drug trafficking or crimes like extortion or robbery, since the prohibition did not end consumption, nor will it,” the group stated in a press release.
Source: El Universal
