Police Want Vapes Banned In Malaysia, They Just Can’t Do It Themselves

Fentanyl drug showing up in e-cigarette liquid has given Malaysia’s second-highest cop the clearest argument yet to pressure the relevant ministries to ban vapes.

In Brief

Malaysia's Deputy IGP is pushing for a total vape ban after fentanyl-laced synthetic drug "Piu Piu" was found in vape liquids.
Police cannot ban vapes themselves, as authority lies with other ministries, leaving enforcement actions insufficient on their own.

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Malaysia’s Deputy Inspector-General of Police has a message for whoever is still undecided on banning vapes: a drug that leaves users looking like zombies should settle the argument.

Tan Sri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay made the call at a recent press conference, linking the push for a total vape ban to the emergence of “Piu Piu” — a synthetic drug made from fentanyl and psychoactive chemicals that has been detected mixed into electronic cigarette liquids.

Fentanyl is up to 100 times stronger than morphine, and notorious for driving overdose deaths across the United States and increasingly found in street drugs worldwide.

“Vaping has now become a source of pride among teenagers, so we need to curb this problem at an early stage,” he said.

Many countries have already banned it, and Malaysia must also have the political will to eradicate it.

Sounds Like A Game, But It Isn’t

Piu Piu is a new psychoactive substance — the kind of drug designed to mimic the effects of controlled substances while staying one step ahead of existing laws.

Mixed into vape liquid, it is difficult to detect and easy to distribute through ordinary retail channels.

The name “Piu Piu” mimics the sound of a laser or a gunshot — and that’s likely the point.

The drug hits fast, hard, and sometimes fatally, and the name stuck because the effect feels exactly like that: instant, and not always survivable.

Ayob Khan described its effects as severe: users can become severely intoxicated, unresponsive, and visibly disoriented — the “zombie-like state” that has become shorthand for fentanyl-linked drug episodes.

@lizzzzzi87 不要🙅‍♀️玩PP #Nodrug #Gogreen #fyp #viral #Nopiaopiao ♬ SAY NO TO DRUGS(Remix)-全曲 – DJ阿神

The Problem With The Call

Ayob Khan was candid about one thing: the police cannot ban vapes on their own.

“We do not have the absolute authority to directly ban the use of the devices,” he said, noting that the matter falls under the jurisdiction of other ministries, including the Ministry of Health (MOH).

That admission is significant.

The Deputy IGP is the second-highest-ranking officer in the Royal Malaysia Police — and he is publicly telling other agencies and ministries that have the actual authority to act.

Malaysia has debated vape regulation for years without a definitive resolution, caught between public health concerns, a sizeable vape retail industry, and a government that has moved cautiously on both fronts.

Hidden In Plain Sight

Fentanyl is not new to Malaysia, but its appearance in vape liquid marks a shift in how synthetic drugs are being distributed.

Vape retail outlets sit in a gray area, in some states they are illegal while in others they remain accessible, and largely unremarkable — which is precisely what makes them useful to drug trafficking syndicates looking to avoid detection.

Ayob Khan said the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department would continue large-scale monitoring operations at vape retail outlets.

But operations, he implied, are not enough.

The device itself, in his view, has drifted too far from its original purpose to be salvaged by enforcement alone.