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NYS Attorney General Announces North Country Counties
and BOCES to Split $3 Million from JUUL Settlement to Combat Youth Vaping
Epidemic
Published: June 24, 2024 at
08:45 a.m.
By: Press Release from NYS Attorney General’s Office
(June 21, 2024)
Attorney General James Announces Over $3 Million for
the
North Country to Combat Youth Vaping Epidemic
Funds from $112.7 Million Settlement with JUUL for
its Role in the Youth Vaping Epidemic
Money Will Help Young New Yorkers Quit Vaping and Support Anti-Vaping
Programs
NEW YORK (June
21, 2024) – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced the North
Country will receive over $3 million from a historic $462 million
multistate settlement that she secured from JUUL Labs Inc. (JUUL) for its
role in the youth vaping epidemic that led to a dangerous rise in underage
e-cigarette use nationwide. New York state will receive a total of $112.7
million through this settlement, which Attorney General James will
distribute to every county, Board of Cooperative Educational Services
(BOCES), and the five largest cities in the state to support programs that
will help reduce and prevent underage vaping.
“JUUL
intentionally used deceptive marketing to hook a generation of young people
on their addictive products,” said Attorney General James. “Our
children now face a severe public health crisis, battling addiction to
dangerous e-cigarettes. As a result of this historic settlement, leaders in
the North Country will have new resources to implement programs that will
help prevent children from falling victim to the dangers of vaping. I thank
my partners in government for their continued commitment to our children’s
safety.”
The funds will be
split between counties and BOCES in the North Country:
Counties
- Clinton County will receive $398,962.14
- Essex County will receive $278,594.49
- Franklin County will receive
$372,792.31
- Hamilton County will receive
$181,640.73
- Jefferson County will receive
$531,347.19
- Lewis County will receive $261,994.63
- Saint Lawrence County will receive
$383,711.63
BOCES
- Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washington BOCES will
receive $226,598.54
- Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES will receive
$128,010.19
- Jefferson-Lewis-Oneida-Hamilton-Herkimer
BOCES will receive $368,831
- Saint Lawrence-Lewis BOCES will receive
$232,632.83
After JUUL
launched in 2015, e-cigarette use among New York high school students
skyrocketed. By 2019, the proliferation of vaping led to a national
outbreak of severe vaping-related illnesses, with more
than 2,500 hospitalizations. In October 2019, a 17-year-old male from
the Bronx died due to a vaping-related illness, making him the first
reported vaping-related fatality in New York, and the youngest
vaping-related fatality in the United States.
In November
2019, Attorney
General James sued JUUL for its deceptive and misleading marketing
that glamorized vaping and targeted young people. In April 2023, Attorney
General James secured
the largest multistate agreement with JUUL and its former
directors and executives for their role in fueling the youth vaping
epidemic. JUUL misled consumers about the nicotine content of its products,
misrepresented the safety and therapeutic value
of its products by stating that they were safer than
cigarettes, and failed to prevent minors from purchasing its products in
stores across the country.
The settlement
funds will be used for evidence-based measures to combat underage vaping
and e-cigarette addiction. Counties and BOCES must dedicate the settlement
funds they receive to programs in five categories:
- Public education campaigns to prevent
e-cigarette use among young people.
- Community, school, and university-based
anti-vaping programs.
- Vaping cessation services in communities,
schools, and colleges.
- Enforcement of vaping laws and
regulations.
- Public health research into e-cigarette use among young people and the effectiveness of
anti-vaping programs.
In addition to
paying New York $112.7 million, the settlement required JUUL to make
significant changes to its sales and marketing tactics, including:
- Refraining from any marketing that targets
youth, including using anyone under the age of 35 in promotional
material or funding, operating youth education/prevention campaigns,
or sponsoring school related activities.
- Limiting the amount of retail and online
purchases an individual can make.
- Performing regular retail compliance checks
at five percent of New York’s retail stores that sell JUUL’s products
for at least four years.
- Treating synthetic nicotine as
nicotine.
- Refraining from providing free or nominally
priced JUUL pods as samples to consumers.
- Excluding product placement in virtual
reality systems.
- Increasing funding to a document depository
by up to $5 million and adding millions of relevant documents to the
depository to inform the public on how JUUL created a public health
crisis.
“I’m pleased to
see the North Country will receive over $3 million in the settlement with
JUUL,” said State Senator Dan Stec. “This will go a long
way towards educating young people on the dangers of
e-cigarettes, helping them to see through misleading advertising and
make informed decisions.”
“Vaping companies
are targeting youth and they must be held
accountable, and I am glad that the Attorney General’s office is holding
JUUL responsible for their sales and marketing tactics,” said Assemblymember
Billy Jones. “This court settlement will help our community combat
this crisis and prevent our youth from the harmful health effects of
vaping.”
“It is incredible
that $3 million is being distributed throughout Upstate New York to help
combat the youth vaping epidemic,” said Assemblymember Robert
Smullen. “I am very pleased to see funds being sent directly to
Hamilton Country and Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES in my district. Families
and parents throughout our upstate communities deserve to know the state
has their backs and is looking out for the safety of their children. These
funds will go a long way in making sure JUUL pays for its role in the
growing youth vaping epidemic and necessary measures are in place to
protect vulnerable children and students who could be exposed to these
dangerous devices.”
The settlement
was led by Senior Advisor and Special Counsel M. Umair Khan, Assistant
Attorneys General Hailey DeKraker and Noah Popp, and Healthcare Deputy
Bureau Chief Leslieann Cachola. The settlement was also brought about by
the work of Assistant Attorneys General Sarah Millings, Michael Reisman,
and Abigail Kasowitz; Consumer Frauds Bureau
Chief Jane Azia; Senior Assistant Solicitor General Dennis Fan, Deputy
Solicitor General Judith Vale; Special Assistant Attorney General Emily
Auletta; former Deputy Director of Research and Analytics Megan Thorsfeldt and Data Scientist Jasmine McAllister; Chief
Scientist Jodi Feld, Information Technology Manager Corey Nugent,
Information Technology Specialists Hewson Chen and Paige Podolny; E-Discovery Document Review Manager Carol
Cheng; Civil Recoveries Section Chief Martin Mooney; and former Special
Counsel Morenike Fajana, former Healthcare Bureau
Chief Lisa Landau, and former Section Chief Amy Schallop.
The Division for Social Justice is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General
Meghan Faux and the Division for Economic Justice
is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Chris D’Angelo. Both the Division
for Economic Justice and the Division for Social Justice are overseen by
First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
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