The Mumbai Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) raided four paan shops in the city in the middle of February and registered cases against 12 people. The shop owners were arrested for selling electronic cigarettes, therefore the raids had nothing to do with paan.
Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Mumbai Police raids Paan Shop owners who were selling e – cigerrates
E – cigarettes are considered ‘safer’ alternative, a weaning tool , which is handy at places where cigarette smoking is not allowed. However e-cigarettes contains nicotine, which is not only addictive but is also a highly toxic chemical that can adversely affect any organ of the body.
During the raid on one of the shops, 79 e-cigarettes worth Rs 1.25 lakh were recovered “On questioning him, we learnt about the supplier and raided a godown in Dana Bander area in South Mumbai from where we have seized around 800 e-cigarettes,”
Hookah material godown was also raided , and 69 hookah packets worth Rs 4.5 lakh were recovered.
During the entire raid, 947 e-cigarettes worth Rs 13.65 lakh were recovered “We have been trying to find out about the importer and the route through which e-cigarettes have been coming to the city,” said a senior IPS officer. “Once we will get a lead, the concerned department of the central agencies will also be informed so that they can take strict legal action against importers in the city.”
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Deputy Commissioner of Police, Prakash Jadhav, stated that police acted on the complaints which it received from all over the city that youngsters were smoking e-cigarettes in public places
“E-cigarettes are being sold near colleges and hospitals in the city,”
Despite placing ban in September 2019 on the manufacture, import, transport , sale , advertising and distribution of e-cigarettes, and e-hookahs, it is easily available to youth in the paan shops, over the counter and through online stores.
Dr. Prakash C Gupta, director of Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health stated that manufacturers targeted adolescents via the internet,
“A study we did showed that adolescents were much more aware of e-cigarettes than adults, and were also consuming them more,” he said. “Many shops too stock them, especially those near schools and colleges. It’s a dangerous trend.”
Counsellors in Mumbai are seeing more and more cases of e-cigarette addiction
In Mumbai the school counsellors were seeing more and more cases of e-cigarette addiction. The counsellor recalled the students description of e-cigarette for the first time. “She told me, ‘It looks like a pen with a button and can be charged. Smoke is released on pressing the button. It was strawberry-flavoured, which I really enjoyed.’ My sessions with her helped. She has got rid of the habit and is now studying well.”
E-hookahs are also catching up fast among school students, counsellors recently narrated the experience of 13 year old student who had been using e-hookah since class 7
“His friends asked him to give it a shot,” she said. “He tried it because he trusted his friends. He said he carried the e-hookah, which resembles a pen, in his school bag confidently since his parents and teachers wouldn’t be able to figure out if it contained writing ink or intoxicating liquid.”
However, six counselling sessions later along with his parents, the student was de-addicted.
A Principal of a prominent school in South Mumbai stated that addiction often came through parents,
“These things are readily available to the parents of many children in our school, so their children naturally turn to them,” she said. “We organise workshops for students as well as parents and have frequent discussions with the students on the ill-effects of this addiction.”
It has been revealed that most cigarettes in the market are available for Rs 500 and Rs 2500
“A group of five to six students pool in and buy the device; it is also easily available in the second-hand market for ₹300 to ₹1000,”
The levels of addiction of e-cigarettes is alarming and a report by Salaam Bombay Foundation an organization that runs campaigns against tobacco in schools, claims that one in two boys and one in seven girls in Mumbai use e-cigarettes
“Our organisation works towards “tobacco-free” schools but now we will include e-cigarettes as well,” said Narayan Lad, AGM of the Preventive Health programme of the Foundation. “We are going to take over the public awareness campaign from schools.”
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