Bangladesh Nicotine Ban Risks Boosting Smoking and Organised Crime

Prohibition Does Not Work (PDNW) has today submitted a report to Bangladesh’s interim government warning that a blanket ban on safer nicotine products would undermine public health, entrench cigarette smoking, and fuel organised crime.

In January 2025, the Government of Bangladesh banned the importation of vapour and heated tobacco products. The interim government is now considering extending this into a full prohibition covering manufacture, sale, marketing, and use.

“Prohibition does not eliminate demand — it simply hands the market to criminals,” said Tim Andrews, Director of Consumer Issues at Americans for Tax Reform and the Tholos Foundation, and spokesperson for PDNW. “Every country that has tried this approach has seen the same outcome: a booming black market, reduced consumer safety, and no meaningful public-health gains.”

PDNW’s report draws on international evidence from Australia, Brazil, and India, where bans or near-bans on safer nicotine products have failed to reduce use while allowing illicit markets to flourish.

“In Australia, prohibition created an illegal market worth up to USD 1.3 billion a year,” Andrews said. “In Brazil, safer products are banned outright, smoking rates are rising, and organised crime controls supply. India shows the same pattern. These are not warnings — they are case studies.”

PDNW cautions that Bangladesh is already moving in the same direction.

“We are already seeing illegal distribution networks emerge in Bangladesh in response to the import ban,” Andrews said. “Once those networks are entrenched, the government loses control — over product safety, youth access, and enforcement.”

Rather than prohibition, PDNW urges the government to adopt a risk-proportionate regulatory framework that protects minors while allowing adult smokers access to demonstrably lower-risk alternatives.

“Regulation works. Prohibition doesn’t,” Andrews said. “Countries like Sweden, New Zealand, and the UK are driving smoking rates down by regulating safer alternatives — not banning them.”

“Good regulation allows governments to enforce age limits, set product standards, collect tax revenue, and shut criminals out of the market,” he added. “A blanket ban achieves the opposite.”

PDNW also warned against policy decisions being driven by narrow interpretations of international agreements without proper consultation.

“Misusing FCTC Article 5.3 to avoid consultation produces bad policy,” Andrews said. “Public health is strengthened by evidence and engagement — not by silencing stakeholders.”

“Bangladesh has a choice,” Andrews concluded. “It can regulate safer products and reduce smoking, or it can repeat failures that other countries are now struggling to undo.”

You may read the letter sent to His Excellency Muhammad Yunus HERE and download the full report HERE