The cabinet has approved the designation of electronic cigarettes and electronic baraku as prohibited items for students, with four levels of punishment, as proposed by the Ministry of Education..
Deputy government spokesman Karom Ponpornklang said the cabinet meeting on Tuesday approved the new regulations on student behaviour under the Child Protection Act.
He said e-cigarettes and e-baraku were added to the list of items prohibited for students, which already included cigarettes and drugs listed as narcotics.
The Ministry of Education set four levels of punishment for students who breach the new regulations - 1. warning, 2. probation, 3. deduction of behavioural points and 4. activities for behaviour modification.
The minister, Pol Gen Permpoon Chidchob, had said the ministry did not have the right to confiscate the goods, so other rightful parties had to take responsibility for preventing them spreading in society, Mr Karom added.
E-cigarrettes and baraku, or water pipes used for smoking tobacco and also known as hookahs, are already illegal in Thailand although widely available. E-baraku is a fairly new item. It allows the user to imitate smoking a cigarette and is generally about 11 centimetres long by about 9 millimetres wide.
