Mexico’s ban on vaping products may have been designed as a public health measure, but AP’s María Verza uncovered a darker unintended consequence: the policy is creating new opportunities for organized crime.
Verza began pursuing the story last year, reaching out to vape shop owners across the country. Few responded — except for one in northern Mexico who revealed a chilling account: two of their employees had been abducted by a cartel that wanted to speak directly with the business owners.
That conversation set Verza on a months-long reporting journey. The anecdote offered a powerful on-the-ground entry into a broader truth that experts had long warned about — that Mexico’s sweeping vape ban, made official in a 2023 constitutional amendment, risked ceding the newly restricted market to the same criminal groups trafficking fentanyl and cocaine.
Ahead of new regulations going into effect in January, Verza teamed up with photographer Marco Ugarte and video journalist Martín Silva Rey to round out the reporting. With sources facing serious security risks, visual access was limited, but the team worked carefully to craft a comprehensive and exclusive package.
Judges praised the persistence behind the story and the powerful way it connected policy decisions to real-world consequences.
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