Vaping devices have become increasingly popular in the U.S. in recent years, including among youths, but one expert says many of the vapes from China could be dangerous.
Rich Marianos, former assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told The Center Square that while there are rules on the books to block the distribution of unregulated Chinese vapes, a lack of enforcement has let the problem explode.
“Now that the criminal Market has gotten so entrenched, there are thousands and thousands of different ones,” Mariano’s said, referring to the illicit Chinese vapes.
Mariano’s went on to advocate for creating a registry of approved vapes and to offer some advice to parents.
“One of the best things that parents can do is to identify the criminal vape shops, the criminal traffickers that are selling out of the trunks and out of the vans, the kids that are selling it out of the backpacks, and use local law enforcement once they have this registry to penalize and punish these criminal traffickers,” added Marianos, who is also executive director of the Tobacco Law Enforcement Network.
“Deterrence works,” Marianos said.
