Placed at the level of the deadliest drug in the world, the million-dollar electronic cigarette market has become very attractive for seven cartels.
The ban on electronic cigarettes in Mexico, already enshrined in the country’s Constitution, will be accelerating the transfer of a highly profitable market into the hands of cartels.
Organized crime groups, which already controlled relevant parts of the illicit tobacco and nicotine trade, have been expanding into the vape market since 2022, the year in which the then Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, banned the import and sale of vaping devices. After the Supreme Court considered the measure unconstitutional, the Government moved forward with a constitutional amendment that ended up being approved in January 2025, under the leadership of President Claudia Sheinbaum, explains .
The change placed vapes on the same legislative level as highly dangerous substances, such as vapes, something that several jurists consider disproportionate.
The predicted constitutional tightening was not accompanied, for months, by a sufficiently clear implementation framework, notes the agency at the end of January, and the gap has allowed products linked to vapes to continue to enter the country, especially from China and the United States: vapes have become an important source of income for cartels.
In December, a new law closed the main legal “hole” by prohibiting practically all stages of the business (with the exception of consumption) and establishing fines and prison sentences that can reach up to eight years.
Currently, pat least seven groups are vying for control of this clandestine market: the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Nueva Familia Michoacana, the Gulf Cartel, the Northeast Cartel, the United Cartels and La Unión Tepito, according to the report “Smoke, vaping and power: the new business of organized crime”, prepared by local civil organizations and the Mexican journalist Óscar Balderas and cited by . Profits work as a strategic fund to finance weapons, criminal logistics and clashes in at least 16 Mexican states considered high risk.
Quoted by , researchers from the RIA Institute warn that the ban, instead of reducing consumption, is “handing over the market to non-state groups” in a country marked by corruption and violence. They argue that it should be regulated instead of prohibited, with clear rules, supervision and quality control.
