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The settlement is the largest litigated settlement that the DC Office of the Attorney General has secured under the Consumer Protection Procedures Act, officials said.
JUUL Labs, Inc. is the maker of the popular nicotine vape JUUL, which quickly rose in popularity amongst young adults and teenagers over the last ten years, initially available in fruity and mint flavors that were later banned due to highly-addictive qualities.
At least 50 percent of the settlement will be used to directly mitigate the public health damages that the JUUL products caused, prosecutors announced. JUUL must also abide by strict advertising restrictions in place to help prevent misleading marketing.
“JUUL preyed on children for profit, implementing an intentionally deceptive, manipulative marketing campaign targeting underage users with the intention of creating addicted customers,” said AG Schwalb. “JUUL knew how addictive and dangerous its products were and actively tried to cover up that medical truth.
"The Office of the Attorney General prioritizes protecting District children’s health and safety and ensuring our kids can live healthy, hopeful lives. Now, thanks to the diligent work by our legal teams, JUUL has ended its harmful, illegal conduct and must put millions of dollars towards mitigating the public health damage it caused.”
Over the last several years, the FDA and the Surgeon General have cracked down on the teenage vaping epidemic, which drastically rose after several decades of declining cases of smoking among young people.
By 2018, 3.6 million kids in the United States were using e-cigarettes, including 1 in 5 high school students. One of the most popular e-cigarette devices at the time was JUUL.
The Office of the Attorney General filed a lawsuit in November 2019 alleging that JUUL deliberately targeted underage consumers, failed to verify the ages of purchasers, and deceived consumers about the content, strength, and safety of its products.
Some of the restricted advertising JUUL must abide by after the settlement includes:
- Prohibitions on advertising in social media channels or influencers used by youth, on billboards and public transportation, and on using representations of anyone under the age of 35 in advertising;
- Stringent ID verification and adult signature requirements for online purchases on JUUL’s website;
- Restrictions on comparisons to tobacco products unless authorized by the FDA;
- Disclosure of nicotine content in milligrams and as a percentage of total volume;
- Limitations on bulk online and in-person purchases;
- Restrictions on low-cost promotional giveaways of JUUL products;
- A retailer compliance “secret shopper” program and penalties for failure;
- A depository of publicly available documents for further research, paid for by JUUL.
Some of the $15.2 million settlement will be used to create programs to help stop the teenage vaping epidemic.
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