New Jersey must do more to stop illegal vapes

In 2020, federal officials and the state of New Jersey banned flavored vapes, a move meant to curb youth addiction to nicotine. But if you take a walk in one of our cities, step into a corner store, or glance at the discarded vape cartridges littering our streets, you’d find it hard to believe those bans exist.

The scent of cotton candy, blue raspberry, and fruit punch drifts across our streets, a telltale sign that these products are still everywhere, still easily accessible, and still hooking an entire generation on nicotine.

Even more alarming is that because these products are illegal, they exist almost entirely on the black market. That means there is no regulation, no oversight, and no quality control. We have no idea what toxic chemicals are inside these products. We have no way of knowing what our children are inhaling into their lungs. And yet, flavored vapes continue to flood our neighborhoods, especially in low-income and underserved communities, where oversight is weakest and enforcement is lax.

Corporate retailers — large chains that sell tobacco and vape products — face regular inspections to ensure compliance with the law. But the same can’t be said for the independent stores, often found in communities of color, where enforcement is sporadic at best. This isn’t just negligence, it’s targeted neglect. We know where these products are being sold. We know who they are being marketed to. And yet, enforcement remains an afterthought.

We cannot continue to allow the children of New Jersey to be the casualties of regulatory indifference. In January, Attorney General Matthew Platkin issued a letter to the 11,000 businesses licensed to sell tobacco and vaping products in the state, reminding them of the flavored vape ban and warning them to stop illegal sales immediately. That warning came four months after New Jersey fined 19 retailers $4,500 each for selling these illegal products. While this is a step in the right direction, it is not nearly enough. A slap-on-the-wrist fine will not deter businesses that are raking in cash from under-the-table vape sales. A strongly worded letter will not make black-market manufacturers stop targeting our kids.

If we want real change, we need real action. Just across the river in New York, Attorney General Letitia James is taking an aggressive stand. She is suing 13 major manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, demanding hundreds of millions of dollars in financial penalties for violating local and state law. Her lawsuit seeks not only to punish these bad actors but to hold them accountable for the public health crisis they have created. She is demanding damages, the recovery of profits made from illegal sales, and the establishment of an abatement fund to address the epidemic of youth vaping in New York. That is what serious action looks like. That is what we need in New Jersey.

The Attorney General’s Office must go beyond letters and fines. They should be actively investigating and prosecuting the manufacturers and distributors responsible for flooding our streets with these dangerous products. They should be directing law enforcement to inspect vape shops in our cities, where children pass these stores every day on their way to school.

This is a public health crisis. We know it. We see it. And yet, we are not treating it with the urgency it demands. Every flavored vape sold is another child at risk of addiction. Every store that continues to sell these products is making a mockery of the law. And every day that we fail to act, we put our youth at risk.

We need stronger enforcement, greater accountability, and a commitment to protecting our children. It is time to stop looking the other way. It is time for our state to take action. The health of our youth depends on it.

Ronald Slaughter is the pastor at Saint James A.M.E. Church in Newark and the vice chair of the New Jersey State Parole Board.