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Tag: Lillian Ortega

  • Illicit Market Threatens Harm Reduction Progress

    Illicit Market Threatens Harm Reduction Progress

    The growing illicit nicotine market is creating risks for brand protection, consumer safety and tobacco harm reduction, speakers said at GTNF 2026 in Lisbon during the “Playing Defense – Brand Protection and its Impact on Harm Reduction and Consumers” panel. Following a keynote address, Lillian Ortega, founder and chief regulatory strategist at WOW Solutions, moderated the panel and said the U.S. unauthorized vape market is already significant and warned that “you can’t enforce your way out of it.” Ortega said an estimated 70% of the U.S. vape market is unauthorized, although the figure does not capture online sales and some vape shops, and argued that regulatory delays and gaps in FDA oversight can leave demand to illicit suppliers. She called for timely and predictable product authorization, better tracking of products entering the U.S. and greater information sharing throughout the supply chain.

    Michael Horowitz, managing counsel at RAI Services Company, said an entrenched illegal market is difficult to reverse, particularly when consumers may not realize they are purchasing unauthorized products. He also pointed to fragmented enforcement and the difficulty of distinguishing unauthorized products from products that are genuinely illicit.

    Abel Vecino, head of illicit trade prevention for Southwest Europe at Philip Morris International, said brand protection is also about protecting consumers as they move away from combustible products. He said criminal organizations are scaling production, moving closer to consumer markets and exploiting enforcement gaps, while adapting to demand for lower-priced products. Vecino called for greater cooperation with law enforcement and proactive partnerships before problems emerge.

    Stevan Vranes, global head of corporate affairs at Imperial Brands, said illicit products are increasingly visible in local communities and legitimate retail channels, while distinguishing legal from illegal products has become more difficult in newer nicotine categories. He said illicit cigarette factories across Europe can now produce up to 1 million cigarettes an hour and that illicit sales are increasingly moving online. Vranes called for a holistic approach, including greater pressure on social media and stronger action against online sales, while acknowledging that authorities cannot physically inspect every container entering global ports.

  • Pushing Back Against Illicit Trade

    Pushing Back Against Illicit Trade

    At a GTNF panel in Brussels on illicit tobacco, industry leaders, academics, and regulators warned that well-intentioned policies and slow regulatory systems are helping organized-crime networks flourish — putting legal retailers at risk and undermining public-health goals. Moderator Rohan Pike, director of Rohan Pike Consulting, opened the session by challenging official rhetoric. “The Australian health department cannot issue a press release without using the words ‘world leading,’ when all we’re leading the world in is excise tax and organized crime,” he said, arguing that high taxes and restrictive policies have created perverse incentives for illegal supply. Pike said he now supports accelerated access to reduced-harm products, noting: “If we can switch someone to a reduced-harm product, we’ve reduced smoking.”

    Theo Foukkare, CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, described a market under siege. Pointing to what he called ideological policymaking, Foukkare said decision-makers are listening to a narrow set of experts and ignoring real retail evidence. He recounted attacks on compliant shopkeepers and warned that, if trends continue, “the legal market will cease to exist.” He added that organized networks can import dozens of containers and still profit even when most shipments are seized.

    Nick Hodsman, head of anti-illicit trade policy at BAT, stressed the scale of production driving the illicit trade. “Margins organized criminals can make are something the legal industry could only dream of,” he said, highlighting mass production in parts of Asia and growing challenges around emerging nicotine categories. Hodsman called for improved visibility on what is leaving origin countries and what actually arrives in destination markets.

    King’s College London’s Dr Alexander Kupatadze warned of the complexity of criminal networks and systemic data weaknesses. He urged closer research and better integration of siloed datasets — across customs, law enforcement, and private firms — to find the “needle” in vast flows of information.

    U.S. regulatory expert Lillian Ortega pointed to slow and fragmented review processes for creating a grey market for new products. Ortega blamed antiquated tracking systems, inconsistent federal enforcement, and misdeclared imports that allow illicit goods to reach consumers while compliant manufacturers wait for approvals. “Criminals thrive off confusion,” she said.

    Panelists converged on several policy responses: beefing up frontline enforcement and retailer protection, modernizing tracking and customs documentation, improving inter-agency data sharing, and creating faster, clearer regulatory pathways for reduced-risk products to reduce demand for illicit supply.