Major medical organizations are urging the state, which won a $438.5 million settlement against e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. earlier this month, to use the money towards tobacco prevention and cessation programs, particularly for young people.
Selling electronic cigarette products to children is illegal in all 50 states. However, since Juul released its sweet-flavored electronic cigarettes in 2017, there has been an increase in teenage use of nicotine-containing products. States and school districts have launched various educational campaigns aimed at discouraging children from using harmful and addictive products.
On September 6th, a settlement agreement was reached that not only requires Juul to pay fees to each state over the course of 6-10 years, but also prohibits the company from conducting any further marketing campaigns targeting young people. The agreement also restricts the range of product sales and advertising, prohibits the use of unapproved flavors by the US Food and Drug Administration, and prohibits the marketing of free samples and branded goods.
In a letter dated September 27, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights and Truth Initiative have called on states to "build on the historic 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with the tobacco industry, while avoiding some of the mistakes that were made, to achieve further success.
These organizations cited a report from the Smoke-Free Kids campaign, which showed that only 2.7% of the $27 billion in tobacco settlements and taxes collected by states in the 2022 fiscal year were allocated towards programs aimed at preventing children from smoking and assisting smokers in quitting.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong stated in his announcement of the proposed settlement, expected to be finalized in October, that JUUL's flippant advertising campaigns have created a new generation of nicotine addicts. "They shamelessly marketed their e-cigarette products to minors, manipulated their chemical makeup to make them palatable to inexperienced users, utilized inadequate age verification procedures, and misled consumers about the nicotine content and addictiveness of their products," Tong wrote.
In a statement, Juul has said that the settlement agreement is "an important component of our ongoing efforts to address past issues.
It further stated, "The terms of this agreement are consistent with our current business practices implemented company-wide after being reset in the fall of 2019.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over two million high school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2021, with eight out of ten students using flavored products.
In 2019, Governor Gretchen Whitmer made Michigan the first state to ban flavored e-cigarette products in an effort to reduce youth vaping. Other states have also issued similar orders, and all states have incorporated e-cigarettes into laws that restrict the sale of tobacco to minors. At least 18 states have raised the legal smoking age to 21.
In 2020, the FDA banned all nicotine products flavors except for menthol and tobacco.
During the announcement of the settlement agreement, several state attorneys general stated their intention to use the funds for smoking cessation and prevention programs. Health organizations urged all states in a letter to "translate this admirable intention into a strong commitment expressed in the final text of the agreement.
In 2020, the Attorneys General of Connecticut, Oregon, and Texas began investigating the company's marketing and sales practices, with 30 other states joining the effort: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Afterward, the state of Maine chose to withdraw from the settlement.
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