At the end of June, Attorney General Josh Stein announced that JUUL settled with North Carolina for $40 million. The state alleged that the e-cigarette company aggressively marketed its products to young people through social media advertisements and other outlets, leading to a notable increase in youth vaping.
Underage E-Cigarette Use and Marketing Tactics
“For years, JUUL targeted young people, including teens, with its highly addictive e-cigarette,” Stein shared in a statement. “It lit the spark and fanned the flames of a vaping epidemic among our children — one that you can see in any high school in North Carolina.”
Under the consent order, JUUL must adhere to several marketing restrictions, including little to no social media advertising, no outdoor advertising near schools, and no sponsorships of sporting events and concerts. While the e-cigarette company has voluntarily adhered to many of these rules, it’s now considered the law in North Carolina. The company also agreed to stop the sale of sweet and fruity flavored e-cigarettes in the state unless given permission by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Youth Vaping Across the Country
Although North Carolina is the first state to reach a settlement with JUUL, an additional 12 states and Washington D.C. have also sued the company. From a national perspective, Stein encouraged the FDA to prohibit all non-tobacco flavors, including menthol, in e-cigarettes; to limit the level of nicotine in e-cigarette products; and to impose strict marketing guidelines to prevent attracting young people.
Youth vaping has been on the rise since 2017, with JUUL at the center of the e-cigarette controversy from the beginning. In fall 2019, the company stopped selling flavored vaping pods, excluding tobacco and menthol.
Even so, the e-cigarette manufacturer denies any wrongdoing and liability. In a statement, spokesperson Josh Raffel said that the agreement with the state of North Carolina “is consistent with our ongoing effort to reset our company and its relationship with our stakeholders, as we continue to combat underage usage and advance the opportunity for harm reduction for adult smokers.”
For more information about the investigation into JUUL, contact us today.
Additional Reading:
JUUL Labs Faces “Substantive Scientific Review” from the FDA
Tracy Everhart
Tracy Everhart is the Editor for Drug Law Journal. A highly-trained and certified medical professional, Tracy is also an accomplished medical writer. After spending years on the front lines of the medical profession, Tracy now devotes her expertise and skills to researching and reporting on new drugs and devices that enter the market, as well as their side-effects and the real-life stories involved. Prior to joining Drug Law Journal, Tracy wrote for benchmark online healthcare resources focused on families and, in particular, women’s health issues. Tracy holds post-graduate degrees from both the American College of Healthcare Sciences and the Yale School of Nursing. She is also a graduate of both Hampshire College, where she studied microbiology and the University of South Carolina school of nursing.