Taiwan: You Are Welcomed to Smoke, You Are Punished for Vaping

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Taiwan: You Are Welcomed to Smoke, You Are Punished for Vaping
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Bottom line: Walk into any 7-Eleven in Taipei and you can buy a pack of cigarettes, the deadliest nicotine product, for about US$4.40 (€3.79), no questions asked beyond your age. They are consumed by ~13% of the population. Walk out with a vape in your pocket, and you are now a criminal. Under an amendment currently moving through Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, simply possessing an e-cigarette will carry a fine of up to NT$100,000 — roughly US$3,160 / €2,724 — plus confiscation. Import a handful of devices as a traveler, and the fine climbs to US$31,600 / €27,240. Manufacture or sell one, and you’re looking at seven years in prison. This is not harm reduction policy. It is harm-maximization policy, it is a moral hierarchy dressed up as public health policy. It punishes smokers who switched, and sends a clear message: the deadliest nicotine product is the only permitted one. And it is about to make Taiwan’s drug problem worse, not better.

Taiwan on Farsalinos

Taiwan: You Are Welcomed to Smoke, You Are Punished for Vaping

Taiwan: You Are Welcomed to Smoke, You Are Punished for Vaping #

Taiwan: You Are Welcomed to Smoke, You Are Punished for Vaping
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