The Trump administration is cracking down on the flood of illicit flavored e-cigarettes that bad actors are illegally importing and distributing in American communities and to American children. Attorneys general of 28 states and Guam are pleading for action. To win this battle, they need local law enforcement.
Officers can well identify the potential trouble ahead when they see neon-colored, candy-flavored disposable nicotine vapes. They also can – and should – help authorities track them to the distributors and international smugglers who poison our children and fund their drug and arms businesses.
I have spent more than four decades walking evidence lines, logging contraband, and knocking on doors after midnight drug raids. I have learned to read neighborhoods the way old-timers read cattle tracks. These vapes are the freshest type of track I see today. Whenever my deputies find one, we know we are just scratching the surface because that little plastic tube almost always points to larger crimes.
Many of these vapes are from China and are the entry ticket for international syndicates that want low-risk, high-margin products to bankroll more-dangerous ventures. The devices arrive in bulk from factories outside Shenzhen, concealed in sea-containers marked “flashlights” or “phone cases.”
By the time they reach local vape shops, the shipments have touched at least three money-laundering hubs and one cartel broker. Last month, a federal joint operation seized two million illegal vapes worth more than $34 million as part of a Chicago investigation.
These vapes seem harmless compared to fentanyl or meth. But they often are a cash commodity that finances illegal drugs. Investigators have mapped supply chains that run from Chinese factories to Mexican cartel-controlled ports to gang-operated warehouses.
Federal rules require every nicotine product to carry an FDA marketing order. Ninety percent of the disposable vapes that end up in evidence lockers lack such an authorization. They are easy money for smugglers because they look like toys, avoid canine alerts, and sell fast. Teens buy them with pocket cash. Adults grab them when they do not see legal pods in stock. Each sale fuels the next shipment. Many mask an unrelated load of fentanyl, meth precursors, or counterfeit pills.
The latest brief by DEA analysts who track the Shinaloa and Jalisco networks shows vape proceeds moving through the same Chinese underground banks that launder drug cartel money. The route is efficient. A single Boston-bound container of illicit vapes is worth about $2 million in retail value yet it draws a smaller sentencing exposure than smuggling cocaine.
Vape shops cropping up in many communities are the gateway to the gray market. Almost every week, vape shops are busted around the country. Every time illicit Chinese vapes are found, so are illegal drugs, wire fraud, and worse.
As federal authorities crack down on illicit vapes, they should recognize how local law enforcement can help in several ways.
Deputies and code-enforcement officers can treat illicit vapes as probable cause for deeper inspection. They can verify FDA authorization numbers in the public database and expand the database to include rejected products. If there is no authorization, business licenses can be denied.
Officers can share vape seizures with regional law enforcement Fusion Centers. When narcotics and tobacco units compare notes, patterns emerge. The same warehouse that stores bright disposables often stores counterfeit cigarette tax stamps, ghost-gun parts, or bulk pill ingredients.
Homeland Security, the FDA, and Treasury run programs that fund anti-smuggling work. Counties can apply to them jointly, combine small awards, and form task forces that span jurisdictional lines.
Education officers should show the link between flavored vapes and synthetic opioids during campus talks. A 14-year-old who understands that his cotton-candy vape bankrolls fentanyl may think twice.
Lawmakers can help law enforcement do even more.
They can fund local strike teams. Federal agencies cannot inspect every corner store, but sheriffs can if they have overtime and lab support. Lawmakers can also create, update and publish directories with lists of authorized versus rejected products so law enforcement knows which ones to target. Expanding seizure authority would help by allowing sheriffs to treat unauthorized vapes like untaxed cigarettes with vehicle forfeiture provisions that hit traffickers where it hurts.
Every illicit vape is an early warning that the pipeline feeding America’s fentanyl crisis has found a local market. Law enforcement begins with acting on clues before they become tragedies. Legislators, parents, and merchants should do the same.
Bill Waybourn is the sheriff of Tarrant County, Texas.
