“We also want to decrease tax for NRT,” he told reporters.

The two measures are among the ministry’s strategies for harm reduction as part of its campaign to ban smoking among those born after 2007.

Khairy said harm reduction was not needed for those born after 2007 as these groups are not supposed to be smoking in the first place.

He added that a tobacco control strategy and the fight against cigarette smuggling could go hand-in-hand.

“We already have multiple meetings with police agencies at the border to step up enforcement activities to ensure that we fight the illicit market and we have seen an increased seizure of illicit cigarettes.”

Yesterday, Malaysia Society for Harm Reduction president Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh said the absence of harm reduction options would create an influx of illicit cigarettes, vapes or e-cigarettes from the black market.

“Those who already have an addiction will go underground to get what they need,” she said.

Insaf Murni Association Malaysia president Dr Khafidz Ishak said a completely prohibitive approach could backfire, as it did in Bhutan.

“In 2020, its prime minister said 22% of youths there, were smoking tobacco,” he said, adding that incorporating harm reduction methods into the GEG bill can help control smoking and cessation efforts.

Need for medicines to be affordable

Khairy also reiterated that the ministry was looking for a mechanism to promote transparency in drug pricing to ensure affordability and access to medicines.

Khairy said prices of leading brand-name drugs had been touted to be exorbitant to the extent that Malaysia has been labelled as a “high price island”.

“With the arrival of many more targeted and powerful treatments, including cell and gene-based therapies with multi-million dollar price tags, the need for sensible drug pricing policies will only intensify,” he said.