Illegal economy of e-cigarette industry in Thailand

This research is aimed 1) to study the current situation of e-cigarette industry, both Thailand and abroad 2) To study control measure and impact of e-cigarette usage, both Thailand and abroad and 3) To find appropriate measure to control e-cigarette in Thailand. The research was qualitatively conducted on the basis of content analysis. Data were collected from In-depth interviews with six groups such as consumer of e-cigarette (working age/students), organization and concerning e-cigarette department, authorities (law enforcer), politicians, medical personnel and academic personnel. The collected data were analyzed according to the objectives, and the results were descriptively illustrated. The result revealed that In 2014, the e-cigarette in Thailand has not control or clearly policy from the government sector. There are few e-cigarette distributors in the market. Most of e-cigarette distributors are online sales through website and Facebook. They have import e-cigarette from foreign countries. However, in 2014, e-cigarette has continuously increased, and so that the Thai government has launched the Banned import measurement, Banned distribution measurements by Ministry of Commerce,. The Consumer Protection Board (CPB), Ministry of Public Health and Customs Department. For the market value of e-cigarettes in Thailand during 2017-2022, show that informal economic sizing is very tricky because the official database has not been collected. However, there are two methods of estimation: direct and indirect estimates. Thus, during the years 2017-2022 who smoke cigarettes electronic around the country. Increased steadily from 2017 with the smoker’s electricity to 1.1 million people and will increase an annual average of 2 million people and rising at the end of 2022 with Cigarette 2.1 million people, the market capitalization of cigarettes will increase in the same direction. In 2017, worth 7,920 million Baht and worth rose at the end of 2022, amounting to Baht 15,120 million, showing growth of industrial electric cigarette. On-demand and economic value. The market capitalization of cigarettes from 5 to 10.3 % of total revenues in the tobacco industry 0.05% to 0.08% of GDP during the years 2017 to 2022.The research results recommended the legalize e-cigarette and implement control measures the same as cigarette, it is recommended to carry out studies and learn from experiences in foreign countries as 99 nations tend to legalize e-cigarette.