Organizations and specialists warned this Thursday about the alarming growth of the “black market” of illegal vaporizers and cigarettes in Mexico, derived from prohibitive policies and lack of regulation.
The situation has generated an increase in public health risks, especially among minors, in addition to millionaire losses due to tax evasion, they explained in a statement.
Within the framework of World Vapeo Day, which is celebrated every May 31, activists indicated that the constitutional reform of January, which prohibits the use, distribution and commercialization of vaporizers, left the market in the hands of clandestine networks.
Juan José Cirión Lee, president of Mexico and the world vaping, said that the entire offer went on “to the black market”, which has put millions of users who were looking for safe alternatives to leave tobacco.
The measure, according to Cirion, also meant a setback in the fight against smoking, as it caused the closure of formal businesses, opened the door to organized crime and reduced the offer of quality products.
Meanwhile, Miguel García, activist and consumer, said that “half of the formal businesses that sold devices had to close definitively or change their turn.”
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Meanwhile, Tomás O’Gorman, from Provapeo, denounced that now these products “are sold without control in informal and street stalls as if they were sweets”, even in front of the National Palace, the residence of President Claudia Sheinbuam.
South border, the passage of illegal cigarettes
To this phenomenon is added the rise of the smuggling of cigarettes through the southern border of Mexico.
The Council for the Development of Small Trade and the Family Business (Concomerciopequeño) revealed that only in Yucatan, six out of 10 established shops sell illegal cigarettes.
These products, from countries such as China, Vietnam and India, enter Belize and are distributed throughout the country without health control or tax payment.
Gerardo López Becerra, president of the organization, warned that illicit cigars are sold from 20 pesos, that is, only 28% of the price of a legal package.
López Becerra explained that the presence of these illegal cigarettes is given from premises in public markets to stores, sweets, cremerías, stationery stores and pointed out that the smuggling route begins from the free zone of Belize, where there are no sanitary or fiscal controls, and then be distributed by the Yucatan peninsula and then to all of Mexico.
In addition, they are freely marketed on social networks and marketplaces (digital markets) of platforms such as Facebook, even minors.
“This situation reflects the lack of effective surveillance and permissiveness that allows this illicit trade operating openly, affecting public health and promoting unfair competition against formal businesses,” he said.
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According to Oxford Economics consultant, the State loses up to 13,500 million pesos a year for this illegal market.
To counteract this situation, concomcoriopequeño launched an awareness campaign aimed at small merchants, warning that the sale of illegal cigarettes may involve fines, seizures, closures and even prison.
With EFE information
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