ATLANTA, GA – Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has joined a coalition of 13 attorneys general in sending a letter to credit card companies urging them to stop the sale of illegal vape products facilitated through their payment card networks. 

Illegal vapes, overwhelmingly manufactured in China, now account for almost all of the U.S. vape market – generating over $11 billion in annual retail sales and comprising more than 80 percent of all vape sales nationwide. The only way those illegal products can be distributed is through financial institutions and payment processors. In short, thousands of unauthorized e-cigs and vapes continue to use these platforms to facilitate illegal transactions of illegal products. Distributing and selling these products violates many federal and state laws.

“These illegal Chinese vapes are putting our children at risk, and we must do all we can to protect them,” said Carr. “We have been fighting this issue since day one – pushing back on the Biden administration’s FDA, advocating for stronger laws in Georgia, and warning our convenience stores not to put profit over safety. Now, we’re asking payment processors to work with us to stop the flow of illegal, candy-flavored vapes once and for all.”

The attorneys general are asking Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover to stop the flow of these illegal and unsafe products. There is a strong precedent for public-private cooperation in this area. In 2005, state attorneys general and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives successfully worked with payment card networks to stop the illegal sale of cigarettes over the internet. 

The states urge the credit card companies to identify and remove merchants that sell illicit vapes from their networks and to publicize what steps they have taken so far to combat this problem. 

In addition to Carr, this Iowa-led letter is joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. 

Find a copy of the letter here  (PDF, 440.89 KB) .