Regulate Smarter Continues “Smarter Regulation Now” Series with former ATF Assistant Director Rich Marianos

As Regulate Smarter continues its work to help the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) modernize its approach to nicotine products, the Coalition is releasing the fourth installment in its multi-part video series, “Smarter Regulation Now.” Featuring behind-the-scenes testimonials from expert panelists at a recent Coalition-sponsored event in Washington, D.C., the latest episode highlights remarks from Rich Marianos, a retired Assistant Director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Watch the video here.

Drawing on more than two decades of federal law enforcement experience fighting violent crime, gangs, and trafficking networks, Marianos underscores that local police and sheriffs’ departments are on the front lines against the flood of unauthorized vapes, but they lack the dedicated resources needed to take effective action.

In his comments, Marianos references the $200 million dollars approved by the U.S. Congress for enforcement efforts against illegal vapor products as part of last year’s continuing resolution signed by President Donald Trump.

The full video is available here.

Stay tuned for weekly installments of Smarter Regulation Now throughout the summer and into the fall!

RICH MARIANOS: Currently, there's $200 million dollars that the President has allocated towards the enforcement of vapes. Ideally, we would like to see the money be brought down to local law enforcement in which they can use it for enforcement strategies instead of it sitting in the 202 area code. So we need to address this head-on, understand who the enemy is, and tackle them with their funding mechanism, which is these illegal vapes.