KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — The Cabinet will make a collective decision on whether to permit the manufacture of cannabis vaporisers in Malaysia for export, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said today.
Dzulkefly was asked whether there has been a change of government policy and that it’s now legal for anyone to manufacture cannabis vaporisers in the country for export purposes, since a United States-based vape company, which produces both cannabis and nicotine vape products, received a nicotine manufacturing licence from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) last month.
Ispire Technology Inc., a Nasdaq-listed company based in California, has been operating a factory in Johor since February 2024, manufacturing both cannabis and nicotine vaporiser devices in Malaysia.
“I will address this matter later and present it to the Cabinet. From there, we will get a stance; it won’t be my personal stance, but a Cabinet position,” Dzulkefly told reporters at the sidelines of the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) Conference here today.
“There are various ministries involved here, not just the MOH (Ministry of Health). You have got MITI (Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry), the agency MIDA, and KPDN (Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry). So we will table it and we will get a collective decision.”
Dzulkefly did not mention the role of the police. Cannabis is classified as an illicit drug under the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 that prohibits not just the substance of banned narcotics itself, but also drug-related equipment.
CodeBlue reported last week Ispire as saying in a Q1 2025 quarterly report, filed with the US’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last May 9, that it is “currently able to manufacture a wide range of cannabis hardware in Malaysia and import into the US.”
Ispire – which operates a manufacturing facility in Senai, Johor, under its local unit, Ispire Malaysia Sdn Bhd – also told an investor presentation in Las Vegas last April that it produces “mainly cannabis-related products” in its Malaysia factory, compared to nicotine vape products with just one production line.
Ispire’s quarterly report says the company does not “touch the cannabis plant” in the production and sale of its hardware products and that its cannabis-related products are in the form of “cartridges filled with oils by our customers.”
In a statement to CodeBlue last Friday, Ispire Malaysia said: “All vaporiser hardware produced in Malaysia is currently shipped empty, with no nicotine or cannabis substances involved at any stage of the manufacturing process.”
