How Juul got vaporized
ON JUNE 7, NORTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL JOSH STEIN will enter a Durham courtroom with a mission: proving that the e-cigarette company Juul Labs purposely targeted teenagers with its nicotine-rich products.
If Stein—who in 2019 became the first state attorney general in the U.S. to sue Juul—is successful, the vaping company may be in for a world of hurt. Hundreds of lawsuits against Juul, many of which were consolidated into multidistrict litigation in California, are pushing allegations mirroring Stein’s. They claim Juul purposely designed its stylish, flash-drive-like devices and flavored nicotine e-liquids to appeal to teenagers. The product launched with a flashy marketing campaign that, the complaints argue, was likewise meant to appeal to young people. The suits allege Juul planted the seeds for a youth addiction epidemic that would make nicotine cool again after years of historic declines in cigarette smoking.
Juul’s executives have repeatedly denied that they meant to attract children; they say their goal has always been to give adult smokers a better option than deadly combustible cigarettes. To their credit, most health experts agree that e-cigarettes—while not full-stop safe—are less dangerous than cigarettes. And Juul, with a sleek design and satisfying nicotine delivery, could be particularly appealing to adult smokers looking to switch. Whether Juul meant to attract them or not, though, millions of teenagers have used its products. In 2020, about 20% of high school students and 5% of middle-school students said they had vaped some sort of e-cigarette in the past month. Those figures are down from 27.5%
