With thousands of illegal e-cigarettes for sale in the U.S., both the Trump and Biden administrations have vowed to crack down on the illicit fruit- and candy-flavored vapes that hold particular appeal to minors. But a new government report suggests law enforcement efforts by the Department of Justice lag far behind the scope of the problem.
Most DOJ enforcement actions between fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2025 — 50 out of a total of 88 — were to add the names of remote e-cigarette sellers to a list of unauthorized businesses, according to the report from the Government Accountability Office. The second-most common type of enforcement actions (20 out of 88) noted in the report were injunctions to stop legal violations.
