Juul

For a brief time, the tide was turning and the younger generation was less likely to use tobacco products. Smoking wasn't cool any more, and kids knew about the dangers involved. Then manufacturers started marketing e-cigarettes or "vapes." Leading vaping company Juul says their mission is "to improve the lives of the world's one billion adult smokers" with a cigarette alternative they claimed was safe. It isn't, but they marketed their product at the younger generation, now your child might be hooked.

Juul Labs, Inc. started making e-cigarettes in 2015. They package nicotine salts from leaf tobacco into one-time use pods. Here’s what you need to know:

• Juul is the most popular e-cigarette in the United States, holding 72 percent of the market share by 2018.
• E-cigarettes are said to deliver a nicotine peak in five minutes, much like a regular cigarette.
• A single Juul pod contains the same amount of nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes, substantially more than other e-cigarettes available.
• Protonated nicotine doesn’t have the harshness of tobacco smoke, so users can inhale much higher amounts of nicotine than they would be able to with regular cigarettes.
• In December 2018, Altria Group, one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes and related products (think Marlboro and Skoal) acquired a large stake in JUUL’s e-cigarettes.
• Juul pods come in eight flavors, the most popular of which is mango. In other words, they’re tasty.
• The CDC has found e-cigarette aerosol to contain volatile organic compounds, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals and chemicals linked to lung disease.

In June of 2019, the United States House of Representatives launched an investigation into Juul’s business deal with Altria, seeking to learn more about social media and advertising practices and communications. They found Juul deliberately targeted children to become the largest United States seller of e-cigarettes.
Non-public documents from Juul labs revealed they “deployed a sophisticated program to enter schools and convey its messaging directly to teenage children; Juul also targeted teenagers and children as young as eight years old, in summer camps and public out-of-school programs; and Juul recruited thousands of online influencers to market to teens.”
You read that right – Juul actually held summer camps, recruiting kids from third through 12th grade for a “holistic health education program.” They targeted low-income, at-risk youth. And they spent hundreds of thousands on making e-cigarettes look cool.

When people use addictive substances early in life, their brains are still forming. Nicotine is extremely toxic and severely addictive. The Surgeon General reports it harms the developing brain.
A lot of kids don’t even realize e-cigarettes contain nicotine. They think they’re doing something cool that tastes like popcorn or candy. Until they try to quit or get taken to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.

Parents and people who have become addicted have had enough. Nicotine withdrawal causes irritability, headaches, depression, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, difficulty concentrating and intense cravings. Toxins in e-cigarettes can cause cancer, lung problems, even death.

If you or a loved one became addicted or experienced health problems after using Juul pods, vapes or e-cigarettes, you may be eligible for compensation. Schedule a free consultation with our personal injury attorneys to talk about your case today.