Smoking in Mexico
Mexico regulates tobacco products including cigarettes under a framework that permits their sale and use but restricts certain practices. Based on these regulations, purchasing cigarettes from vending machines or online is illegal. Health warnings on packaging are mandatory and the minimum legal age for sales is 18 years. There are also restrictions on smoking in public places. Mexico bans all forms of tobacco advertising. The total taxation rate on cigarettes is 67.59% including a specific excise tax of 15.55%. Statistics show that 13.7 million adult individuals in Mexico were current smokers in 2025. This shows that the current prevalence of tobacco smoking among adults was 17.3%, with 26.2% among males and 9.2% among females. In 2025, 5.4 million Mexicans were smoking daily which represented 6.9% of the adult population. Data from the same year show that the prevalence of daily smoking was 10.8% among men and 3.3% among women. Tobacco-related mortality is also high in Mexico. Statistics from 2021 show that approximately 39,509 deaths were attributable to tobacco smoking of which 29,952 were male deaths and 9,556 were female deaths. This shows that tobacco smoking accounted for 3.54% of all deaths in the country in 2021, with higher mortality rates among males (4.64%) compared to females (2.04%).
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June 12, 2022 by filtermag.org
Mexico Keeps Moving Closer to Total Vape Prohibition
Commercialization of vaping devices has always been technically illegal in Mexico. Usage, however, has not been, and the growth of a relatively unregulated vaping market reached almost 1 million occasional or daily users in 2017, according to government sources. The Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the prohibition of vapes is unconstitutional; while vapers were cautiously optimistic that the decision would create a regulated vaping market, non-regulation has stubbornly prevailed.
June 01, 2022 by medicalxpress.com
Mexico bans sales of 'harmful' e-cigarettes
Mexico banned sales of electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices on Tuesday because of concerns about their health effects, the government announced. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said it was a "lie" to claim that e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to inhaling tobacco smoke.
"The vapors are also harmful for health," added Lopez Obrador, who signed a decree introducing the ban on World No Tobacco Day. He showed a pink vaping device to illustrate how the products are intended to appeal to young people.
"Look at the color, the design," Lopez Obrador said.
May 05, 2022 by nmhealth.org
Live Vape Free program helps teens rise above the clouds
The New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) announces the launch of Live Vape Free, a new program offering teens free tools and resources by text message to help them quit the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarette, nicotine and vaping).
“Recent research by the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that much of the progress made in nearly two decades of getting kids to quit smoking may be eroding, as so many teens are trying, but failing to quit vaping nicotine.” said Acting Department of Health Secretary, David R. Scrase, M.D. “This program will be a valuable tool to assist our young people in quitting e-cigarettes [...]
March 31, 2022 by foxlexington.com
Mexico wants to keep e-cigarettes out of teens’ reach
A group of Mexican lawmakers want to close legal loopholes they say make e-cigarettes easily available to teenagers.
The way the laws are written, it’s illegal to import this product to Mexico, but it’s not unlawful to sell it or manufacture alternative methods of nicotine delivery, lawmakers from the MORENA Party said.
“The consumption of tobacco products is down, but the development of nicotine delivery technology is strongly positioned in our society. We must update our legal framework to include newly commercialized products,” Sen. Eduardo Perez Astorga said in a publicly broadcast forum earlier this month.
September 03, 2021 by santafenewmexican.com
New Mexico lawmakers eye tobacco tax hike to curb use
As part of an effort to curb tobacco use in New Mexico, especially among high school students who are increasingly using e-cigarettes, several lawmakers expressed support Thursday for increasing taxes on all tobacco products.
The push to raise the price on cigarettes and other tobacco products came after representatives from the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network delivered a long list of bleak statistics about the toll tobacco use is taking on New Mexicans.
May 06, 2021 by marijuanamoment.net
Mexico misses legal cannabis deadline
Mexican lawmakers missed the Supreme Court’s deadline to legalize marijuana by April 30, and they didn’t ask for another extension. Now there is talk about a special session after June’s elections—but the court could issue a new ruling striking down criminalization in the meantime.
The Louisiana House of Representatives voted to legalize medical cannabis flower under the state’s existing limited program. The body also advanced a bill to prepare for broader recreational marijuana legalization as well as separate hemp regulation legislation.
March 12, 2021 by None
Mexico’s move to greenlight marijuana may pressure Biden
Mexico is on the verge of creating the world’s largest legal marijuana market, a move that could pressure President Joe Biden to embrace weed, too.
Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies passed landmark legislation Thursday morning, ahead of a April 30 deadline set by the country's Supreme Court to legalize recreational sales. The Senate is expected to back the bill in the coming days. “It’s historic,” said Luis Armendáriz, a cannabis attorney with the Hoban Law Group who works with companies that are looking to enter the Mexican market. “You have the end of prohibition of more than 100 years.”
October 29, 2020 by entrepreneur.com
The 'Marlboro World' says goodbye: Philip Morris leaves the cigars in Mexico
Philip Morris, the company that markets the Marlboro brand of cigars, announced that it will leave cigars in Mexico, a market in which it has a 65% share, to promote other forms of smokeless tobacco consumption with its IQOS device.
“We want to have a positive impact on the 15 million smokers in the country. For this reason, we have decided to open the way to science and innovation through revolutionary products such as IQOS, and to achieve a smoke-free future in the country as part of our goals for 2030 ”, said Andrzej Dabrowski, CEO of Philip Morris Mexico, a statement.
September 24, 2020 by vapingpost.com
New Mexico Survey: High School Students Are Vaping More And Smoking Less
In line with data from across the globe, newly released data New Mexico Department of Health 2019 Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey, have indicated that as vaping rates have increased, the use of other forms of tobacco has decreased. “Teens have largely gotten the message about the dangers of smoking and pitched their Camels and Kools. But now, many are vaping, negating the gains the anti-tobacco forces hoped to see in New Mexico’s high schools,” [...]
September 14, 2020 by marijuanamoment.net
New Mexico Governor Calls For Marijuana Legalization To Fund Medicaid Amid Coronavirus Budget Crunch
The governor of New Mexico again agued that that marijuana legalization represents an economic opportunity for the state, especially amid budget shortfalls caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said at a press briefing on Thursday that the state needs to “look for innovative ways to increase economic activity.”
“Recreational cannabis is one of those areas where that’s $100 million,” she said. “It doesn’t fix it, but it plugs one of those holes [and] potentially would be enough to do a whole lot in the Medicaid gaps.”