Very low nicotine rule is Biden administration's parting gift to Mexican cartels

The Biden administration has been one failure after another.

From national security to our Southern border and the economy, President Biden has set America on a path of despair and destruction. Now, on their way out the door, members of the Biden administration are looking for every opportunity to take one final swing that will inevitably leave President Trump and his administration to pick up the pieces on day one of their new tenure.

Unsurprisingly, Biden’s Food and Drug Administration is not immune from these devastating acts.

One of the final acts of Biden’s FDA is to advance a proposed rule that would effectively end the legal sale of cigarettes in the United States. The VLN – also known as the Very Low Nicotine Rule – would mandate that nicotine levels in cigarettes be so low that manufacturers would be unable to legally sell cigarettes.

Of course, cigarette consumption will not merely evaporate should this rule go into effect. As a result of the VLN, we’ll inevitably see Mexican cartels, which have already been working to gain a stronghold in the illicit tobacco space by smuggling cigarettes, fill the void and take a stranglehold on the cigarette market. Should it be a surprise that the president who has left America’s borders wide open, allowing a cascade of crime and drugs to freely flow into our country, is pushing forward eleventh-hour policies that empower gangs and cartels?

Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), which is involved in tobacco sales, was designated one of the top 5 most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world. Yet, these are the types of people or organizations Joe Biden and his cronies at the FDA want to fund through the illicit cigarette market by shutting down the safe, legal, and regulated tobacco industry with the VLN rule.

Let’s also remember, this is the same president and administration that have been both unwilling and unable to even slow down, let alone stop the flood of illicit vapor products from China into the United States over the past four years. China has spent the past four years smuggling illegal vapor products into the United States – which are specifically marketed at our kids through features like video games – right under our noses as President Biden and his FDA stood by watching aimlessly and doing nothing. Because of America’s indifference and inaction, the Chinese Communist Party has spent four years raking in profits that help fund their military on the backs of selling illegal products to American children.

While we’ve allowed the CCP to profit, the attack on legal tobacco has been nonstop over the last four years, including with this administration’s insistence to ban menthol in an effort to achieve as close to a total prohibition on tobacco as possible. But the only result of this pursuit is to prop up the illegal cigarette market, emboldening Mexican drug cartels who are known to be seeking expansions in their cigarette trafficking operations. President Biden’s FDA has also made one misstep after another when it comes to harm reduction.

Their failure to authorize products for American smokers has empowered the cartels. Rather than providing an avenue for the authorization of legal products that smokers want, we’ve instead ceded ground to illegal products that now make their way into the hands of our kids. The push for prohibition by the administration has been an abject policy failure across the board from day one.

Fortunately, it is not too late. President Biden and his FDA still have a chance to remedy this mistake and reconsider pursuing this rule, which would represent a key step forward in securing our border. Meanwhile, Republicans, both in Congress and within the incoming Trump administration, will have the power to stop this before it can have a detrimental impact on our safety and security.

At a time when our porous border is already in desperate need of securing, we should be focused on enacting policies that kneecap the cartels and prevent illicit materials from being smuggled into our country. As a parting gift to the American people, perhaps the Biden administration could consider finally putting America first and reversing course on this harmful rule. Otherwise, we will be counting on the Republicans taking office in January to hold true to their campaign promises of securing our border and standing up for the best interests of the American people.

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