The illegal disposable vape market is 70% of U.S. sales — and a new GAO report says enforcement isn’t close to keeping up

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report released this month documents a striking gap between the scale of the illegal disposable e-cigarette market and the federal response to it. Unauthorized products — vapes that the FDA has not cleared and that often carry the fruit and dessert flavors marketed at younger users — make up roughly 70% of U.S. e-cigarette sales, according to the GAO’s review, covered in detail by STAT News. Most Department of Justice actions between 2022 and 2025 were administrative, the report found — sellers added to public warning lists rather than pursued through litigation.

Why the gap is hard to close

The structural problem is well documented: most illicit disposable vapes are sold in physical retail — convenience stores, gas stations, and vape shops — and the FDA does not have the inspection footprint to match. The agency formalized a flavor-specific PMTA framework in March, but the GAO report and a parallel Tobacco Insider analysis suggest enforcement still trails policy. Roughly 1.6 million U.S. minors continue to use e-cigarettes, with many drawn to flavored disposables. State action is starting to fill the federal gap — Pennsylvania introduced a state-level vape product registry this month — but coverage remains uneven.

Why this matters for people in recovery

For people working on nicotine recovery — and for parents trying to get a teenager off vapes — the practical effect is that “what’s actually available at the corner store” continues to diverge from “what the FDA has authorized.” Cessation tools that work — nicotine replacement therapy, varenicline, structured support — are still the durable answer; they just have to fight a much louder market than the headlines suggest.

If you or someone you love is trying to quit nicotine, Rize can help you find evidence-based cessation support in Arizona.