VCs, health experts call for complete ban on tobacco products

Islamabad:Terming tobacco a gateway to drugs, health experts, academics, and public health advocates on Monday demanded an immediate and complete ban on cigarettes, vapes, and newly introduced nicotine products, warning that tobacco has become a gateway to substance abuse and drug addiction in Pakistan.

The call came at the third meeting of the Tobacco Control Think Tank held at the Health Services Academy (HSA), where it was revealed that 90 percent of drug addicts in the country had started their journey with smoking before progressing to hard substance use.

Chairing the meeting, Vice Chancellor HSA Prof. Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan said growing academic stress, loneliness, peer pressure, and easy access to tobacco products were driving young Pakistanis towards smoking and vaping, eventually leading many into drug addiction.

He warned that nicotine alternatives, marketed in the name of 'harm reduction,' were no safer than cigarettes and must also be banned to prevent a looming public health disaster.

Participants at the meeting urged the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to classify nicotine pouches as therapeutic goods and regulate their sale, insisting that such products must not be available without a prescription.

Citing regulatory loopholes, they said the unchecked availability of flavoured nicotine pouches like VELO and other vaping devices was targeting Pakistan’s youth and undermining decades of tobacco control efforts.

Presenting the latest data, Prof. Dr. Mati ur Rehman, Dean of Allied Health Sciences at HSA and a member of the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority Board, revealed that tobacco use costs Pakistan over Rs700 billion annually, a figure nearly three times higher than the total tax revenue generated from the tobacco industry.

He added that tobacco causes approximately 166,000 deaths every year and accounts for 11 percent of all deaths in the country, positioning Pakistan as the seventh-largest consumer of tobacco globally and the leading country in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Former surgeon general of the Pakistan Army and Vice Chancellor of Mohiuddin Islamic University, Lt. Gen. (r) Asif Mumtaz Sukhera, called for launching aggressive social media campaigns to dismantle the glamorized image of tobacco and nicotine products.

He stressed that the youth must be exposed to the harsh realities of addiction rather than seductive marketing strategies designed to hook a new generation of users.

Other participants called for legislation similar to that in the United States, where a portion of tobacco industry profits is used to fund health research, and demanded a complete ban on cigarette sales in and around educational institutions across Pakistan.

Experts also warned that the so-called 'safer' nicotine products being pushed into the Pakistani market, often in appealing flavours like mint and ‘elaichi’ (cardamom), are rapidly gaining traction among teenagers. They said the health risks of these products remain largely unknown, but the addiction potential is well established.

Participants of the meeting unanimously called for urgent regulatory action, legislative amendments, and strict enforcement of tobacco control measures to protect Pakistan’s youth from nicotine and tobacco addiction. Participants stressed that without decisive action, tobacco would continue to fuel the country’s addiction crisis, eroding its human and economic potential.