Juul settles teen vaping instances with six states and D.C. for $462 million

Embattled vaping firm Juul settled youth vaping fits with New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Colorado, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia on Wednesday for $462 million.

Using flavors like mango, menthol and creme brûlée, Juul dominated the digital cigarette market in the U.S. Officials throughout America contended, nonetheless, that the flavors together with advertising claiming that vaping was safer than smoking posed a danger to American youth.

California will obtain $175.8 million, the biggest payout any state has gotten in a Juul settlement. New York nets $112.7 million, Illinois is due $67.6 million, Massachusetts will get $41.7 million, Colorado collects $31.7 million, New Mexico will obtain $17 million, and D.C. is due $15.2 million.

“Juul preyed on children for profit, implementing an intentionally deceptive, manipulative marketing campaign targeting underage users with the intention of creating addicted customers. Juul knew how addictive and dangerous its products were and actively tried to cover up that medical truth,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb stated in an announcement.

“After inappropriately marketing its product as a smoking cessation device, Juul products actually served as a gateway to cigarette use for youth who had never smoked before,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul wrote.

Keeping consistent with its settlements with different jurisdictions, Wednesday’s consent order bars Juul from straight or not directly advertising its product to anybody underneath 35, and is required to restrict the net and in-store purchases of its prospects.

“This settlement with seven state attorneys general represents another critical part in our ongoing commitment to resolve issues from the company’s past. … With this settlement, we are nearing total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future,” Juul stated in an announcement Wednesday.

After being warned by the Food and Drug Administration over its advertising in 2019, Juul launched a company-wide reset and commenced a string of settlements with state and native governments.

Since 2019, Juul use by underage customers has dropped by 95%, in response to the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

Juul agreed to pay West Virginia $7.9 million to settle that state’s go well with alleging misleading promoting to teenagers on Monday. In September 2022, the corporate reached a $438.5 million cope with 33 states and Puerto Rico.

After the Wednesday settlement, Juul can have agreed to pay over $1 billion to 47 U.S. states and territories. The vaping firm, which has laid off tons of, nonetheless has extant litigation with Alaska, Florida, Maine, Michigan, and Minnesota, in response to the Daily Mail.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison took Juul to trial on March 28. Juul “baited, deceived and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation,” Mr. Ellison stated in an announcement.

Tobacco firm Altria, which owns 35% of Juul, can also be a defendant within the Minnesota case.