Justice Department Files Complaints Against Raided Vape Companies

The Trump administration has finally named the vape businesses targeted Sept. 10 in multi-state raids by agencies of the Department of Justice (DOJ). According to a joint announcement by the DOJ and FDA, the actions resulted in the seizure of more than two million “illicit” products from five distributors and six retailers in seven states, and complaints filed in multiple federal jurisdictions.

The seizures were carried out by various DOJ agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Marshals Service, with participation by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and FDA personnel.

The DOJ and FDA claim that the companies raided Sept. 10 had all received previous warnings for selling products without FDA marketing authorization, and that the products seized were unauthorized. But a warrant for at least one of the raids, on Illinois-based Midwest Goods, named some products still under review by the FDA.

The FDA has granted marketing authorization to just nine currently sold e-liquid-based vaping devices and 30 tobacco- and menthol-flavored refills for those devices. Many products that have not yet been authorized have remained on the market while marketing applications are considered by the FDA or manufacturers' challenges to FDA denials are adjudicated in court. Until now, the FDA had tacitly allowed those sales to continue.

Twelve vape businesses named by the feds

The DOJ has filed civil complaints in various U.S. District courts asking for injunctions to prevent the targeted businesses and their owners from continuing to sell unauthorized vaping products.

The companies that were raided Sept. 10 are:

Additionally, although not raided with the other named companies, the DOJ filed for an injunction on Sept. 16 against the owners of Gorilla Vapes LLC, a New Jersey manufacturer and retailer.

Chinese vapes threaten national security, says Bondi

Federal officials justify the extensive raids and seizures by claiming the seized products “threatened the health and safety of our communities and undermined the integrity of statutory and regulatory safeguards designed to protect consumers, including our nation’s youth,” according to a DOJ press release.

In addition to the health and law-and-order claims, the federal government says that Chinese vaping products somehow threaten national security.

“These dangerous and unauthorized vapes are often smuggled in from China to be sold near schools and military bases, putting our kids and service members directly at risk,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “This is a national security issue, and this month’s raids are just the beginning. Working with our partners at HHS, we will prosecute anyone participating in the illegal sale of these products.”

Chinese vapes sold without FDA authorization are not a national security issue by any common-sense definition of national security, but administration officials count on the Trump political base to accept such claims without question, and the rest of the country to simply not care enough to complain. Vaping is generally looked upon with disfavor by the public, and DOJ and HHS officials expect their actions to slip by without much scrutiny.

Using federal police power to enforce the Tobacco Control Act (in favor of tobacco companies that donated to Trump’s presidential campaign) makes sense from an administration willing to declare almost any situation an emergency or national security threat in order to justify enforcement actions by federal police agencies.

“This operation is a great example of the U.S. Marshals Service and its partners joining forces to protect our youth and to Make America Healthy Again,” said U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces S. Serralta.

“Make America Healthy Again” is the slogan coined by Trump ally (and current HHS secretary) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to promote Kennedy’s vision of U.S. health policy. Trump said during his campaign that, if elected, he would let Kennedy “go wild” on health policy.

A week after the raids described above, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) carried out unrelated seizures of various drugs and drug-related products that the agency attempted to link to vape shops, despite having no connection to nicotine vaping.