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Massachusetts’ Lawmakers Turn Their Attention to the Vape Black Market

Legislators are now having to tackle a black market issue, which as predicted, came about as a result of the flavour ban set in place in 2019.

Diane Caruana

April 7, 2023

An Illegal Tobacco Task Force had looked into how vapers of flavoured products were responding to the local flavour ban, and found that the ban was leading to “an increase in smuggling activity and black-market sales.”

H4183 was approved in December 2019 by a vote of 127 to 31, and set in place a harsh 75% tax and flavour ban on vaping products. The bill also allows the authorities to seize vehicles in which they find untaxed vaping products, and a police officer who finds any illicit and untaxed products in the hands of anyone who is not a licensed to distribute the products may seize both the product and the ‘receptacle’ in which it is found, including any vehicle in which the devices are transported.

With regards to flavoured vaping products, use is still allowed in a handful of state licensed “smoking bars.” However, this of course is harder than it sounds for vapers who use the devices to substitute cigarettes in everyday life, such as after a meal, when driving to work, or while watching a movie at home. To these individuals allowing use in smoking bars is futile.

In response to these measures, even as far back as 2020, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Illegal Tobacco Task Force had looked into how vapers of flavoured products were responding to the ban, and non surprisingly the task force concluded the ban was leading to “an increase in smuggling activity and black-market sales.”

Charles Giblin, a retired special agent in charge of the New Jersey treasury’s office of criminal investigation, had voiced his concern on how the enforcement of flavour bans would only contribute to the creation of a significant new black market.

Cross-state smuggling is on the rise

In fact, Axios recently reported that cross-state smuggling is rising, with over 105,000 vaping seizures in fiscal 2021 and 6,406 in fiscal 2022,. On the other hand State Sen. John Keenan and state Rep. Marjorie Decker last month filed a bill to increase the tax sales further.

The illegal tobacco task force recommended that more state funding should go towards investigating cross-state smuggling and illegal vape and cigarette sales. Its report also suggested giving the Department of Revenue’s criminal investigation bureau more authority so that anyone caught conducting any illegal activity could get their license suspended or revoked.