In a settlement agreement, e-cigarette company JUUL Labs agreed to pay $40 million to the state of North Carolina.
Attorney General Josh Stein (D-NC) filed suit against the company in 2019 for “designing, marketing, and selling its e-cigarettes to attract young people and for misrepresenting the potency and danger of nicotine in its products,” according to a June 28 statement from his office.
“This win will go a long way in keeping JUUL products out of kids’ hands, keeping its chemical vapor out of their lungs, and keeping its nicotine from poisoning and addicting their brains,” explained Stein. “I’m incredibly proud of my team for their hard work on behalf of North Carolina families. We’re not done — we still have to turn the tide on a teen vaping epidemic that was borne of JUUL’s greed.”
In addition to paying $40 million over the next six years, JUUL Labs agreed to reform its business practices in North Carolina:
- No marketing that appeals to people under the age of 21.
- No using most social media advertising, influencer advertising, outdoor advertising near schools, and sponsoring sporting events and concerts.
- No claims that compare the health effects of using JUUL with the health effects of using combustible cigarettes in its marketing materials.
- No online sales to anyone not age verified by an independent verification system and making sure third-party sales partners do the same.
- No retail sales to anyone not age verified using a barcode scanner.
- Ensure its products are sold behind counters so shoppers cannot access them without a shop employee’s assistance.
- Maintain a retailer compliance secret shopper program in North Carolina to ensure these measures are followed and hold accountable retailers that fail.
- No new flavors or nicotine content levels without FDA authorization.
Policymakers across the United States are attempting to restrict the sale of flavored nicotine products.
For instance, California sought to regulate the sale of flavored tobacco by instituting fines of $250 per sale of flavored vape juice or menthol cigarettes. The law was suspended after a massive lobbying effort from California Coalition for Fairness, which is funded by large tobacco companies.
In April, the Biden administration likewise announced its intention to regulate menthol cigarette sales. White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the move was “a public health decision that will help curb addiction and save lives.”